Final answer:
Criticism as activism involves using critique in various forms, such as intersectionality, critical pedagogy, and critical race theory, to foster social and political change.
This includes everything from feminist literary criticism to judicial activism, where transformative goals are pursued through education, legal interpretations, and direct action to address and alter oppressive systems.
Step-by-step explanation:
Criticism as activism entails using various forms of critique to initiate or support social and political change. This concept is often associated with various social theories, including intersectionality, critical pedagogy, and critical race theory.
Each of these addresses the intersection of identities and oppressive systems to foster societal transformation through education, policy, and various forms of activism. Critical praxis underpins this idea, emphasizing the need to understand, critique, and change oppressive systems to create just alternatives.
Activism gains momentum when it moves beyond mere understanding and seeks to engage in direct action to transform societies based on acknowledged inequities.
Feminist literary criticism is one example, where literature becomes a platform to address and attempt to reform gender attitudes reflected in societal norms. Similarly, activist artists use personal revelation through art as a political tool to address issues of self-representation, empowerment, and community identity.
Judicial activism demonstrates criticism as activism within the legal system, where courts may interpret the law in ways that lead to societal change, often provoking debates about the separation of powers.
Critics may label court decisions as 'activist' when those decisions strike down laws deemed to be antithetical to what they consider just and equitable.