respectability politics

American  

[ri-spek-tuh-bil-i-tee pol-i-tiks] / rɪˌspɛk təˈbɪl ɪ ti ˌpɒl ɪ tɪks /

noun

(used with a singular or plural verb)

1. a set of beliefs holding that conformity to prescribed mainstream standards of appearance and behavior will protect a person who is part of a marginalized group, especially a Black person, from prejudices and systemic injustices: Respectability politics place blame on groups already hindered by discrimination.

   Black respectability politics embraces the illusion of a level economic playing field.

   Respectability politics place blame on groups already hindered by discrimination.

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Etymology

Origin of respectability politics

First recorded in 1995–2000

Example Sentences

Talarico, by contrast, is a devout Christian with politically progressive views and an affect that seems to have been calibrated by both Texan genteelness and the Ivy League—the human embodiment of what critics might call “respectability politics.”

From Slate

Williamson chose this route for “Unconventional” because he wanted to make an unabashedly queer relationship show “written without respectability politics in mind, so I’d need to find a different pathway.”

From Los Angeles Times

As King and his movement grew, Eig shows him in a complicated dance with white leaders like President Lyndon B. Johnson, who sometimes supported and sometimes hampered him, and with more radical Black activists who increasingly saw him as dedicated to an outmoded form of “respectability politics.”

From New York Times

Amid the spine-tingling vocals and dancing that had sweat flying from Usher’s forehead and arms, one of the most remarkable parts of the “My Way” residency was how it bucked the respectability politics of pleasure that Black women face.

From Los Angeles Times

And the mother, who is from a different generation, she’s in her 80s, says, I wish the boy would have just — it’s basically respectability politics.

From Los Angeles Times