Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Identity Politics

Identity Politics By Alethia Jones On the Contrary Iednt Ity Plo It Ics Part of a Reinvigorated Class Politics Identity politics has its share of shortcomings. But the problems that plague an anemic class politics won’t be solved by eliminating its supposed com- petitor. In recent decades, identity politics has mushroomed to include more and more social groups for good reason: numerous categories of persons have been systematically denied rights, privileges, and social respect. Major social catego- ries, like race and sexuality, are not a “distrac a c - ane, would be arrest ae ftd er showing proof tion” from the “real” problem of economic of residence. But the attention generated by inequality; rather they are an integral part iden of tity politics often focuses on sensational- an individual’s lived experiences. But identity ized details at the expense of understanding politics cannot end all forms of inequality. A sys t temic dimensions of social problems. The best, it is one strategy in a larger assaum lt edia’s coverage of this shocking, frightening, against systems of inequality. and embarrassing public incident often focused on Professor Gates’s professional achievements The Skip Gates debacle of July 2009 illus- while alluding to, but never fully http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png New Labor Forum SAGE

Identity Politics

Jones, Alethia
New Labor Forum , Volume 19 (2): 4 – Jun 1, 2010
Download PDF
4 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/sage/identity-politics-MKIiIZJeep

References (1)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© 2010 Joseph S. Murphy Institute, CUNY
ISSN
1095-7960
eISSN
1557-2978
DOI
10.4179/NLF.192.0000004
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

By Alethia Jones On the Contrary Iednt Ity Plo It Ics Part of a Reinvigorated Class Politics Identity politics has its share of shortcomings. But the problems that plague an anemic class politics won’t be solved by eliminating its supposed com- petitor. In recent decades, identity politics has mushroomed to include more and more social groups for good reason: numerous categories of persons have been systematically denied rights, privileges, and social respect. Major social catego- ries, like race and sexuality, are not a “distrac a c - ane, would be arrest ae ftd er showing proof tion” from the “real” problem of economic of residence. But the attention generated by inequality; rather they are an integral part iden of tity politics often focuses on sensational- an individual’s lived experiences. But identity ized details at the expense of understanding politics cannot end all forms of inequality. A sys t temic dimensions of social problems. The best, it is one strategy in a larger assaum lt edia’s coverage of this shocking, frightening, against systems of inequality. and embarrassing public incident often focused on Professor Gates’s professional achievements The Skip Gates debacle of July 2009 illus- while alluding to, but never fully

Journal

New Labor Forum – SAGE

Published: Jun 1, 2010

There are no references for this article.