Penguins and social justice

May 20, 2016 5:31 AM

What social justice movements can learn from penguins. (article links to animation)
posted by jb (5 comments total)

In between reading the article (which only scratches the surface of the analogy) and watching the video (which apparently is where the action is and which I can't watch at work), I'm reminded how anthropomorphising other species can lend itself to social Darwinism just as easily as social justice. Case in point: an excerpt from a BU economist's Rational Herds: Economic Models of Social Learning:

Penguins are social animals. They live in groups above the water from which they get fish for food. Unfortunately, there is more than fish in the water. From time to time, killer whales (areas) roam under the surface waiting for some prey. Penguins are aware of the danger and would like to have some information before taking a plunge. Indeed, any sensible penguin thinks that it would be very nice if some other penguin would dive first to test the water.

So what is a penguin to do? Wait. Possibly some other member of the colony who is more hungry, or has other information, will go first. Is it possible that no penguin will ever go? No, because waiting becomes more costly as hunger increases. Eventually, one or more penguins will take the plunge, and, depending on the outcome, the others will either stay put or follow en masse. This waiting game is socially inefficient. It would be better if the first individual would decide to go at least a bit earlier: the first to go is, on the margin, as well off going just a little earlier; but others strictly prefer him to go a little earlier.

Actually, the penguins are well aware of this social inefficiency, which they try to remedy by pushing some poor fellow off the cliff.

Penguins aren't social justice warriors. They're straight-up bastards.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:57 AM on May 20, 2016 [10 favorites]

Y'know, I'm for the same things she's for, and I want to figure out how to disrupt/eliminate the hierarchy as much as the next, but she hasn't suggested a damn thing.

Yeah, penguins are cool. Yeah, spirals are beautiful. But she hasn't suggested how this model can work in real life, with racism, intersectionality, or human behavior in general.

Because right now, we have our huddles, and the "warm penguins" are white people, and unlike the penguins, the white folks aren't going to just take turns and let the rest of society into the warm center. The "cold penguins", just like people of color, aren't able to just go off and start their own huddle/society, because while that might leave the warm penguins slightly cooler, it's not going to warm up the cold penguins.

I can imagine that being at the center of the huddle might actually become uncomfortable for the penguins, like, they might overheat and that sort of forces an in-and-out movement. Right now, there's no incentive for society's "warm penguins" to leave the center. "It's lonely at the top" just isn't true when it comes to privilege.
posted by explosion at 7:22 AM on May 20, 2016 [5 favorites]

A bit more context from Wikipedia:

As a defence against the cold, a colony of emperor penguins forms a compact huddle (also known as the turtle formation) ranging in size from ten to several hundred birds, with each bird leaning forward on a neighbour. As the wind chill is the least severe in the center of the colony, all the juveniles are usually huddled there. Those on the outside upwind tend to shuffle slowly around the edge of the formation and add themselves to its leeward edge, producing a slow churning action, and giving each bird a turn on the inside and on the outside.[59][60]

So it's less a spiral, and more of a mass of penguins slowly moving in the direction of prevailing winds...
posted by pwnguin at 7:45 AM on May 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

So it's less a spiral, and more of a mass of penguins slowly moving in the direction of prevailing winds...

This is like a winning line from a lost Monty Python skit
posted by clockzero at 8:30 AM on May 20, 2016 [5 favorites]

Yeah, penguins are cool. Yeah, spirals are beautiful. But she hasn't suggested how this model can work in real life, with racism, intersectionality, or human behavior in general.

Yeah this - I love the idea hypothetically but we definitely need some kind of centralized, caretaking force to stir the pot here and say, I dunno, maybe kind of spread privilege and resources more fairly amongst people? Maybe even, one might say, redistribute...? the stuff...?

Hm, I wish there were some kind of political candidate whose platform embodied this type of thing...

Oh, well. I guess we're stuck being redwood trees forever.
posted by Mooseli at 10:06 AM on May 20, 2016