The New Puritans: How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World

by Andrew Doyle

Nor is ‘lived experience’ politically neutral. The intention is to validate personal perspective, but only if it corresponds with the expectations of the new puritans. For instance, Markle’s ‘lived experience’ apparently confirms that the royal family is inherently racist, but Prince William’s ‘lived experience’ that his family is ‘very much not’ racist can be readily dismissed. As usual for the practitioners of Critical Social Justice, propositions are framed as conclusions and all evidence to the contrary is ignored or denied. ‘Lived experience’, in other words, only carries weight if it is of the sanctioned type. The concept was arguably popularised by the feminist theorist Simone de Beauvoir, who used the phrase ‘L’Expérience Vécue’ – often translated as ‘lived experience’ – as the title of Volume II of The Second Sex (1949). By rooting feminist analysis in the experiential reality of women’s lives, she was drawing an implicit distinction between that which is merely experienced and the political consciousness that might be actuated by such experiences. Therefore, although ‘lived experience’ seems tautological – what other kind of experience could there possibly be? – the phrase is an attempt to emphasise this notion of heightened social awareness that comes from everyday life.