JERRY L. MARTI N
641
the exclusive truth. Since "there is no external reality subject
to
partition
and definition ... different viewpoints generate different understandings
of events.... " An interpretation may claim to be "true," but only rela–
tive to its own interpretive framework. There is no way we can step
outside our perspectives, our interpretive frames, and see whether they fit
an external, independently existing reality. Standards of evidence, ratio–
nality, and objectivity are themselves relative to the frameworks.
Consequently, the pursuit of "objective" truth is a myth and a delusion.
Step
3:
Grollps.
There is no purely individual act of expression. There
is no expression or interpretation without language, and language, like
all systems of cultural representation, is social. "The literary act is a social
act." Hence, texts, interpretations, and other cultural representations re–
flect the perspectives not merely of individuals but of groups or
"interpretive communities."
Step
4:
Identity.
A person is not an atomistic, autonomous, essential,
noumenal self - free to invent its own identity. The self is "socially con–
structed," constituted by its membership in society or, more precisely, by
its membership in particular groups whose interests may be in conflict
with dominant social interests.
Step
5:
Interests:
"There is no possibility of a wholly disinterested
statement" - if there were, we would have no interest in making it.
Every judgment or expression reflects the interests not only of individuals
but, more crucially, of the social groups or interpretive communiti es that
constitute the society.
Step
6:
Power.
Whatever else they may be (or pretend to be), texts
and ideas are ways of exercising power. In every communication situa–
tion, some people have more power than others by virtue of their mem–
bership in different groups. The more powerful are able to use such cul–
tural representations as texts and ideas to shape the thinking, feelings, and
behavior of the less powerful. Texts, ideas, and other cultural representa–
tions are effective in large part because they mask their purposes and se–
duce their victims.
Step
7:
Race, Class, and Gender.
The most fundamental interests and
power relations are those based on race, class, and gender. The groups
suffering the most persistent and intense oppression have been women,
minorities, and the poor, both within Western societies and within the
reach of the West's globa l power. The cultural expressions of these
groups have been repressed or marginalized by the dominant culture that
reflects the interests of Western white male elites .
Step
8:
Politics.
All cultural expressions and practices reflect, express,
and support power relations and are, therefore, political. The question is
not whether higher education or some other cultural arena is to be
