One of the words that can immediately create a nasty ideological argument is “structural” when applied to history and society. “Structural” racism, sexism, ageism, or class persistence is part of the driving anger in our polarized politics.
After all, the US is built on the myth and reality that nothing is permanent, anyone can start over, and your life is determined by your acts. Also the idea that issues from the past _ especially issues deliberately “fixed” in the present _ can never be presented as a cause or excuse of an individual’s or group’s success or failure.
Obviously, some issues from the past continue to persist in shaping culture. The boundaries of a nation, the language it speaks, its climate and resources determine much about it. As do the backgrounds of the peoples settled there. We commonly refer to a “nation of farmers” or shopkeepers, or whatever.
Others claim the Protestant ethic and other Western markers. The odd thing about current political divides is that the “conservatives” who most decry anything “structural” are the same ones who lament the softening of the equally structural “pillars of society” such as family, church, and patriotism. These are “good” structures.
I think there are a hell of a lot of structural things which affected my life and everyone else’s. What to do with that perception is a whole different can of worms.
HuntingtonHarborThoughts 