Progressive Shibboleths

A shibboleth is a distinctive word, phrase, or practice that serves as an informal test of group membership. Historically rooted in a biblical episode from Judges 12:5-6, where pronunciation of the word "shibboleth" distinguished friends from foes, today it is widely used to describe markers of cultural, ideological, or social belonging.

The contemporary left-wing landscape, particularly among progressives, socialists, neo-Marxists, and identity-politics advocates, is rich with linguistic markers that indicate ideological affiliation and subcultural belonging. Recognizing these shibboleths can clarify both the explicit content of arguments and the implicit assumptions shared by particular communities.

Socialist and Anti-capitalist Shibboleths

• Late Stage Capitalism: Signals a belief in capitalism's inherent instability and approaching demise.

• Means of Production: Fundamental Marxist term referencing resources used to produce goods and wealth.

• Dialectical Materialism: Philosophical framework asserting historical and political events result from class conflict and material conditions.

• Labor Theory of Value (LTV): Marxist economics holding labor as the source of all economic value.

• Surplus Value: Critique of capitalist exploitation where workers produce more value than they receive as wages.

• Alienation: Describes workers' estrangement from their labor, common in critiques of industrial capitalism.

• Commodity Fetishism: Marxist criticism of the perceived intrinsic value of commodities rather than the social relations behind them.

• Proletariat/Bourgeoisie: Class-based terminology identifying workers and owners of capital.

Leftist Internet and Youth Activist Shibboleths

• Eat the Rich: Class resentment expressed humorously, signaling radical class-consciousness.

• Guillotine Memes: Symbolizes radical discontent against elites, referring to revolutionary imagery.

• Seize the Means: Shortened, memetic version of Marxist call to "seize the means of production."

• Fully Automated Luxury Communism: Vision of socialism enabled by technology, promising abundance without capitalism.

• Bread and Roses: Historical reference symbolizing demands for both economic justice and quality of life.

Progressive Identity Politics Shibboleths

• Intersectionality: Framework addressing interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, gender, and class.

• Lived Experience: Prioritization of personal experiences as authoritative knowledge.

• Privilege Check: Act of acknowledging one's societal advantages.

• Microaggression: Minor, often unintended, expressions of prejudice or insensitivity.

• Problematic: Commonly used to signal perceived moral or ideological transgressions.

Critical Theory & Academic Left Shibboleths

• Hegemony: Gramscian concept describing cultural dominance exercised through societal norms.

• Deconstruction: Derridean practice analyzing texts and ideas to reveal implicit assumptions and biases.

• Discourse: Foucauldian concept highlighting ways language shapes power relations and knowledge.

• Praxis: Combination of theoretical knowledge with practical political or social action.

Environmentalist-Left Shibboleths

• Degrowth: Advocacy for reduction in economic production and consumption for ecological sustainability.

• Extractivism: Criticism of economic dependence on natural resource extraction.

• Anthropocene/Capitalocene: Terms debating human versus capitalist-driven ecological impacts.

Anarchist and Libertarian Socialist Shibboleths

• Mutual Aid: Emphasis on voluntary, reciprocal support within communities.

• Direct Action: Political action undertaken outside official institutions to achieve immediate results.

• Horizontalism: Organizational style emphasizing non-hierarchical, participatory structures.

These shibboleths provide clarity not just on terminology, but on deeper ideological assumptions and group loyalties. Recognizing and decoding these linguistic markers is critical to navigating contemporary political discourse effectively.