SOC 0851 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Homophobia, Queer Theory, Metanarrative
31 May 2018
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▪ Distrust of grand narratives (meta-narratives), or any
attempt at a comprehensive and universal explanation
of some phenomenon
• Trying to develop meta-narratives inevitably
leaves someone at the margin or attempts to
force their experiences into the grand story being
told
• Theorists and activists question whether the only
way for groups to gain their basic rights is for
them to look like, act like, and be like to
dominant group to prove that they were in fact
all human, and based this on the claiming of
rights based on essential similarities instead of
essential differences
• How do you organize a social movement around
a category that you suspect might not be real?
Features of Queer Theory
o No intention of solving any of the problems because that
would involve reestablishing another meta-narrative or
claim to truth
o Queerness of queer theory – tendency to view ant firm
theoretical footing with some suspicion
o Queer theory as a theoretical approach is distrustful of
categories, and, as a social movement, it works to do away
with categories in their current form
o Everyone can, in fact, be queer and everyone already is, in
fact, queer
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