The Ethical Sellout

In the age of identity politics, the fear of selling out is rampant-but Zheng and Hansen say there's nothing wrong with it and show how to do it without betraying your deepest values and beliefs.


What happens when you're a proud person of color, but you fall in love with a white person? What if you don't believe in working for megacorporations, but one offers you a six-figure salary, and you have a family to feed? Will you sell out, and is that wrong?

The truth is we're all sellouts. Our life circumstances change in ways we can't predict. Offering practical assessment scenarios and hard-hitting questions, Zheng and Hansen propose new ways of authentically thinking about marginalization, privilege, and self-interest, including five key components of ethically selling out:
• Lose the purity politics-you're a human being, not a model member of a group.
• Embrace your changing identities, roles, and expectations‑-see change as growth, not betrayal.
• Maintain a sense of meaning-hang on to your personal values as you navigate life's changes.
• Seek a chosen family and community-isolation only reinforces negative reactions to selling out.
• Constantly question your world-don't accept the status quo!