Identity Politics

Extracted Attributes

• Scope

  Encompasses governmental migration policies, left-wing agendas (intersectional politics, class reductionism), and right-wing nationalist agendas of exclusion.

• Definition

  A political approach centered on specific group identities such as ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and social class, aiming to rectify injustices and achieve self-determination for marginalized groups.

• Key Concept

  Intersectionality

• Origin Period

  Late twentieth century

• Related Concept

  Multiculturalism

• Criticism (Academic)

  Analytically imprecise due to varying ideological definitions and can reinforce essentialist notions of identity.

• Proponents' Argument

  Highlights experiences of those facing systemic oppression, reveals complex interplay of demographic-based disadvantages, and seeks to equalize the playing field.

• Criticism (Center-Right)

  Collectivist, prejudicial, particularist, contrasts with liberal universalism, and distracts from non-identity-based oppressions.

• Criticism (Nancy Fraser)

  Leads to superficial redistribution within existing power structures, advocating for identitarian deconstruction instead of affirmation.

• Examples of Identity Groups

  Ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social class, nationality, denomination, social background, political affiliation, caste, age, education, disability, opinion, intelligence, African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, Muslims, Jews, feminists, LGBTQ community.

• Criticism (Far-Left/Marxist)

  Divisive, undermines class unity and struggle, seen as a form of bourgeois nationalism or a 'divide and conquer' strategy.

Timeline

• The term "identity politics" was first coined by Black feminist Barbara Smith and the Combahee River Collective. (Source: web_search_results)

  1974

• The term "identity politics" dates to this period, encompassing various political phenomena and rhetoric. (Source: summary, wikipedia)

  Late twentieth century

Identity politics

Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, denomination, gender, sexual orientation, social background, political affiliation, caste, age, education, disability, opinion, intelligence, and social class. The term encompasses various often-populist political phenomena and rhetoric, such as governmental migration policies that regulate mobility and opportunity based on identities, left-wing agendas involving intersectional politics or class reductionism, and right-wing nationalist agendas of exclusion of national or ethnic "others." The term identity politics dates to the late twentieth century, although it had precursors in the writings of individuals such as Mary Wollstonecraft and Frantz Fanon. Many contemporary advocates of identity politics take an intersectional perspective, which they argue accounts for a range of interacting systems of oppression that may affect a person's life and originate from their various identities. To these advocates, identity politics helps center the experiences of those they view as facing systemic oppression so that society can better understand the interplay of different forms of demographic-based oppression and ensure that no one group is disproportionately affected by political actions. Contemporary identity labels—such as people of specific race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age—are not mutually exclusive but are, in many cases, compounded into one when describing hyper-specific groups. An example is that of African-American homosexual women, who can constitute a particular hyper-specific identity class. Criticism of identity politics often comes from either the center-right or the far-left on the political spectrum. Many socialists, anarchists and Marxists have criticized identity politics for its divisive nature, claiming that it forms identities that can undermine their goals of proletariat unity and class struggle. On the other hand, many conservative think tanks and media outlets have criticized identity politics for other reasons, such as that it is inherently collectivist and prejudicial. Center-right critics of identity politics have seen it as particularist, in contrast to the universalism espoused by many liberal politics, or argue that it detracts attention from non-identity based structures of oppression and exploitation. A leftist critique of identity politics, such as that of Nancy Fraser, argues that political mobilization based on identitarian affirmation leads to surface redistribution—that is, a redistribution within existing structures and relations of production that does not challenge the status quo. Instead, Fraser argued, identitarian deconstruction, rather than affirmation, is more conducive to leftist goals of economic redistribution. Marxist academics such as Kurzwelly, Pérez, and Spiegel, writing for Dialectical Anthropology, argue that because the term identity politics is defined differently based on a given author's or activist's ideological position, it is analytically imprecise. The same authors argue in another article that identity politics often leads to reproduction and reification of essentialist notions of identity, which they view as inherently erroneous.

Web Search Results

• Identity politics

  In academic usage, the term identity politics refers to a wide range of political activities and theoretical analyses rooted in experiences of injustice shared by different, often excluded social groups. In this context, identity politics aims to reclaim greater self-determination and political freedom for marginalized peoples through understanding particular paradigms and lifestyle factors, and challenging externally-imposed characterizations and limitations, instead of organizing solely [...] Those who criticize identity politics from the left, such as Marxists and Marxist–Leninists, see identity politics as a version of bourgeois nationalism, i.e. as a divide and conquer strategy by the ruling classes to divide people by nationality, race "Race (classification of human beings)"), ethnicity, religion, etc. so as to distract the working class from uniting for the purpose of class struggle and proletarian revolution. [...] Identity politics, as a mode of categorizing, are closely connected to the ascription that some social groups are oppressed (such as women, ethnic minorities, and sexual minorities); that is, the idea that individuals belonging to those groups are, by virtue of their identity, more vulnerable to forms of oppression such as cultural imperialism, violence, exploitation of labour, marginalization, or subjugation. Therefore, these lines of social difference can be seen as ways to gain empowerment

• Identity Politics - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

  Identity politics refers to politics based around categories rooted in religious, ethnic, linguistic, national, gender, and sexuality in contrast to class-based movements. Identity politics is suggestive of the fact that people's politics is shaped by aspects of their identity and who get together to increase their power and address their marginalization. Given the level of conflict inherent to the political process, all politics may rely on a form of identity politics to mobilize and maneuver [...] Identity politics is an ideologically laden term that refers to social movements to gain recognition or independence for historically marginalized or oppressed groups. Identity politics are usually but not always organized around racialized or ethnocultural status. Such groups may seek radical separatism or may demand rights within a multicultural setting. The paradox of identity politics is that they are usually based on essentialist notions of a group's identity, the very basis on which [...] Identity politics is defined as a political approach that focuses on categories such as religion, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality rather than social class, emphasizing how people's politics are influenced by their identity to address marginalization and increase power. AI generated definition based on: Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, & Conflict (Third Edition), 2022 About this page Add to MendeleySet alert Also in subject area: Earth and Planetary Sciences Discover other topics

• Identity Politics in Context

  Identity politics generally refers to people evaluating issues through the lens of their association with a specific group. This in turn means that approaches to issues, politicians and political parties revolve around how those things affect the relevant group or groups. This can include the conviction that one's group is being oppressed or discriminated against either by larger groups or by society as a whole. Identity politics can also create backlashes among those who disagree with what it [...] ## Putting Identity Politics in the Context of All of Society's Challenges The focus on identity politics is basically a focus on the internal aspects of the way societies work. Those who view their politics through their identity, we can assume, see this focus as necessary to keep society running in a just manner, which in turn helps maintain societal stability.

• Identity Politics: Friend or Foe?

  This is the context for the emergence of identity politics. Stated simply, identity politics is the assertion that “the most profound and potentially most radical politics come directly out of our own identity, as opposed to working to end somebody else’s oppression.”1 The Combahee River Collective detailed how their experiences as Black women were different than those of white women, and this mattered because understanding the ways in which racial, economic, gender, and other oppressions were [...] Identity politics is a threat to those who hold and wield power, because it destabilizes the control against which all else is compared. Identity politics is a threat to white power because it asserts that whiteness has shaped all of our lives in ways that do not benefit us—even those who possess that privilege. Far from being an edict of political correctness, identity politics asks us to see the world as it actually is, and more than that, it demands that we equalize the playing field. [...] The term “identity politics” was first coined by Black feminist Barbara Smith and the Combahee River Collective in 1974. Identity politics originated from the need to reshape movements that had until then prioritized the monotony of sameness over the strategic value of difference.

• Identity politics | Definition, Examples, & Facts | Britannica

  Jews, feminists, and the LGBTQ community, among others. Identity politics is closely related to multiculturalism, or the general view that cultural minority groups deserve respectful acknowledgment of their distinctive belief systems, values, and ways of life. [...] identity politics, political or social activity by or on behalf of a racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender, or other group, usually undertaken with the goal of rectifying injustices suffered by group members because of differences or conflicts between their particular identity (or misconceptions of their particular identity) and the dominant identity (or identities) of a larger society. Identity politics also aims, in the course of such activity, to eliminate negative misrepresentations [...] (stereotypes) of particular groups that have served to justify their members’ exclusion, exploitation, marginalization, oppression, or assimilation to the point of erasure. In a broad sense of the term, identity politics also encompasses nationalist or separatist movements within particular countries and territories. In the United States, groups associated with identity politics have included African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, Muslims,

• Instance Of

  Q47461344