Research Information System
15th International IDEA Conference: Studies in English, Hatay, Turkey, 11 - 13 May 2022, (Summary Text)
Despite the structural
transformation of capitalism after the second half of the twentieth century,
class-based theories seem to suggest a still-relevant explanation of poverty, subordination,
and oppression in postmodern capitalism because the destructiveness of capitalism
has not changed, and the exploitation of labour has increasingly continued in
different forms for wage-earners. However, the tendency of class-based theories
to intervene in identity-related issues as secondary to the concept of class overlooks
recent sociocultural mutations; therefore, class-based theories appear to be
unable to comprehend the entirety of racism, otherisation, and cultural and
racial debasement. This does not mean that identity-based theories, which
prioritise recognition, tolerance, respect, coexistence and multiculturalism,
can entirely examine and address injustice and subjugation since identity-based
theories arguably ignore material conditions reproducing marginalisation. In
this context, a new concept that would reconcile both class- and
identity-centred arguments should be developed in order to articulate ‘each’
form of victimisation within a broader framework, and this intersectional model,
which argues that class politics and identity politics should not be decoupled
from each other, would strategically help build a new progressive alternative
for the prevention and elimination of poverty, deprivation and nonrecognition. Considering
these arguments, this study will attempt to investigate whether such an
intersectional model might be a theoretically functional instrument in order to
understand the complexity of the multifaceted victimisation of fictional
characters sitting at the intersection of two or more categories, such as
class, race, gender, nationality, and sexuality, through a close reading of
different contemporary British novels.