Make America politically incorrect (again) : a genealogy with applications to the 2016 presidential campaign
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[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI SYSTEM AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Political correctness is a term replete with meaning in American society, but dreadfully difficult to define. That definitional quandary is especially salient in light of the term's circulation by Donald Trump, and Trump's campaign, in the 2016 presidential election. This dissertation proposes that political correctness is an empty signifier that responds to an anxiety concerning the rearranging of social hierarchies. Over a span of decades, political correctness has been systematically stretched and rearticulated to encompass a number of attitudes, behaviors, ideologies, and demands emanating from marginalized groups. As political correctness is almost always criticized and taken to be a negative attribute, its naturalization in societal discourse as a catch all to refer to the demands of disenfranchised populations is particularly troubling. To substantiate that claim, a genealogy of the term is conducted ranging from the 1980s to the present. The vocabulary of the genealogy is then applied via rhetorical analysis to discourses circulated in 2016 by the Trump campaign. I conclude by noting the serious implications of political correctness's continued circulation in American politics and society writ large.
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