the term political correctness was first used in 1871.
the term political correctness was first used in 1871.
when was the term political correctness first used?
1871
the term "politically correct" was used infrequently until the latter part of the 20th century. this earlier use did not communicate the social disapproval usually implied in more recent usage. in 1793, the term "politically correct" appeared in a u.s. supreme court judgment of a political lawsuit. the term also had use in other english-speaking countries in the 1800s. william safire states that the first recorded use of the term in the typical modern sense is by toni cade bambara in the 1970 anthology "the black woman". the term probably entered modern use in the united kingdom around 1975.
political correctness
in the us, the term has been widely used in books and journals, but in britain, usage has been confined mainly to the popular press. many such authors and popular-media figures, particularly on the right, have used the term to criticize what they see as bias in the media. william mcgowan argues that journalists get stories wrong or ignore stories worthy of coverage, because of what mcgowan perceives to be their liberal ideologies and their fear of offending minority groups. robert novak, in his essay "political correctness has no place in the newsroom", used the term to blame newspapers for adopting language use policies that he thinks tend to excessively avoid the appearance of bias. he argued that political correctness in language not only destroys meaning but also demeans the people who are meant to be protected. authors david sloan and emily hoff claim that in the us, journalists shrug off concerns about political correctness in the newsroom, equating the political correctness criticisms with the old "liberal media bias" label.
political correctness