Punch Down to Challenge Power

Punching down generally means "further de-privileging an already less privileged social population.” The phrase’s specific meaning in context depends on the speaker’s definition of “privilege.” Punching down is only really punching down if the people being punched are actually less privileged. When the powerful get to culturally define “privilege” in a way that benefits them, punching down becomes synonymous with protecting the powerful. 

Many have uncritically accepted a definition of “privilege” promoted by influential people. Powerful politicians, celebrities, academics, and journalists argue that “privilege” is a function of immutable identity characteristics. They do this to distract from and thereby safeguard the real sources of their power. 

There are obviously statistical relationships between group-level identity characteristics and sociocultural power. Some of these correlations are strong, but none are close to perfect. The powerful people with “underprivileged identities” claim they are the lucky few. We shouldn’t focus on them and their power, they tell us, because they are exceptions to the general rules of privilege. Coincidentally, their purportedly “privileged” friends in power also claim to be exceptions. They say they are exceptions the general rule that privilege brings greed. We shouldn’t focus on their power because they’re generous people hellbent on equalizing social privilege. It turns out that we shouldn’t pay attention to the power of any powerful people who talk about their privilege because they all happen to be exceptions! 

Powerful people see that privilege talk protects their power. They weaponize privilege talk to outcompete their rivals to power. Often, this means directing people’s attention to the power of privilege deniers. You see this play out on the national stage between congressional Democratic and Republican politicians. However, since privilege talkers tend to group together, they often compete with each other. They weaponize privilege talk against fellow privilege talkers when doing so stands to increase their status.

Privilege talk is a cultural skill that is becoming indispensable in elite culture. For the powerful, the question isn’t “How privileged am I?” but “How can I use privilege talk to move up?” That’s why, when people in power decree “don’t punch down” from above, they implicitly mean “don’t challenge this vocabulary I use to protect and increase my power.” They want you to adopt the vocabulary they’re skilled at using to trick people into thinking they are righteous people with legitimate power. 

The way to challenge power is to challenge the language it hides behind. Punch up by punching down on privilege talk.