The Inclusive City by Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko & Martin de Jong

Author:Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko & Martin de Jong
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030613655
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Intragroup and Intergroup Cleavages

The problem with particularistic identity politics is that while it is supposed to improve the position of the members of various groups, it actually stresses distinctions between people. Instead of seeing each person as a unique individual, it perceives him or her through an antagonistic lens, only as a member of an identity group. Rarely do identity groups explicitly aim at including themselves and excluding others, but their promotion of group interests, and paradoxically, demand for special treatment in a tolerant multicultural context, turns occasionally their exclusion into a privilege from which others can be excluded. Consequently, each of these groups benefit from overplaying “difference” in order to gain recognition, entitlements, and influence. While their challenge to nationalist, traditionalist, localist, and conservative views creates an inevitable political battlefield, such multiple identities inevitably breed incompatibility and tension within local communities and for local governments. These tensions may arise even within each identity group. For example, some lesbians have been criticized by other segments of the LGBTQI community for being too restrictive with anchoring understanding of what it means to be a lesbian on a biologically grounded view of a woman. Many of those who suffer from gender dysphoria can actually be victims of allegations from transgender activists, who advocate only one view of a complex issue. The white feminists of the 1960s have been said to actually enjoy their “white privilege” according to proponents of radical black feminism. Ethnic minorities can also be treated differently, as in the case of affirmative action in higher education in the USA, which favors African Americans and sets Asian Americans at a clear disadvantage.

Intergroup tensions emerge when different identity groups represent diverse values, cultures, priorities, or political views. Among religious groups, the increased role of Islam in the Western countries has raised multiple issues in which it seems to be in conflict with feminism and LGBTQ rights and more generally with Western rationalism, liberal values, and certain aspects of internationally recognized human rights. There are also issues of entitlements, prerogatives, and benefits, which are inherent sources of conflict between different social classes or generations.

To sum up, when promoting inclusive urban development, policymakers will have to handle rising levels of tensions between various social groups, especially where they have adopted separate and potentially exclusionary identities, make trade-offs within broader contexts of exclusion and inclusion, and demonstrate leadership in buttressing these trade-offs in a broader vision of their inclusive city. To what extent can members of religious groups participate if they do not share women’s rights? How do policymakers deal with impoverished white working-class people who declare themselves explicitly anti-Muslim? Can certain groups of underprivileged indigenous people or the people of color be provided easier access to universities than other ethnic minorities or white people from poor neighborhoods? Can it be justified that senior people with generous pensions get theater or train tickets at considerable discounts while financially tight street cleaners do not? Should the use of men’s or women’s toilets and locker rooms

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