Elitism guts human soul. As a way of dis-engaging from the world of the people, elitism defines the beings of experts, who, sitting from their elitist positions, make evaluative judgments and decisions about the "people," the population. Essential to these judgments are value positions that accord legitimacy to elite expertise. The elite class knows best. The elite must decide policies and programs. These decisions must be removed from the people to give them the legitimacy of expert knowledge. The elite vantage point is one of distance, cultivated through strategies that put up walls, distinguishing expert knowledge from populism, the way of the people. The first step to elitism is the exhumation of the human-ness of connecting to people. To become an elite, one must first be disconnected. To be an elite is to stand out, to be different, to climb the established ladder of hierarchy to the desired position of power. Essential to this climbing to a position ...
This blog offers Mohan Dutta's reflections on the theoretical framework of the culture-centered approach, examining the interplays among Structure, Culture, and Agency in shaping marginalisation and the ways in which communities at the margins challenge structures. Writings on the blog are continually being revised to reflect the organic analysis of structure and agency.