A Critique of Antiracist Ideology

Abstract

In this article, I argue that antiracist political activism modeled after the teachings of critical race theory (CRT) and critical social justice theory (CSJ) more generally, is an unethical form of pedagogy and clinical praxis that will likely damage members of society by producing incompetent mental health professionals. If the premises and arguments put forward by antiracist frameworks are not allowed to be critiqued and debated within academe, let alone within clinical training and service delivery environments, then we will be fostering a learning milieu based on prejudice, dogma, and indoctrination that will predictably have a deleterious effect on professional education and its impact on society. Focusing on group identity based in essentialism determined by biology, race, gender, sex, or intersectional hybridity is to commit a reductive ontological fallacy that strips away a person’s unique individuality, freedom, and subjective agency. In other words, categories of race or ethnicity do not determine individual personality. Antiracist propaganda in education fails to address (1) the axiological humanistic priorities that center on the distinct phenomenology of individual lives, and (2) inappropriately focuses on race essentialism and colonial blame rather than on (3) universal egalitarian principles mental health disciplines should prioritize in education, training, and public service. If the next generation of mental health professionals are trained to be social justice activists with the public, then we will predictably see (1) a decline in trust toward the helping professions, (2) an increase in ethics complaints to regulatory bodies, and (3) a spate of lawsuits for psychological damages to vulnerable patients who were emotionally abused by incompetent practitioners.