Critiquing 'Common Cause'

Summary

Three friendly critiques, from green allies, of ‘Common Cause’, the influential 2010 report urging campaigners to appeal to intrinsic values. Rupert Read fears its rigid values model “risks being a manifesto for self-righteous impotence”; Sam Earle argues “priming intrinsic values is inherently contradictory”; Victor Anderson finds it has “very little to say about power”, or about ideology and alliances.

Rationale

Anderson’s complaint, that values work forgets power and ideology, is a standing check on culture work like ours: dominant dispositions make existing arrangements feel natural, and are backed by resources.