Identity Politics Work Report Paper Example

Identity does not just entail the shared experiences, which an individual shares with specific people but also involves what also separates the person from others. Identity, in its basic form, fosters a sense of personal location, which is essential for individuality. Apart from all these, individuality concerns an individuals social relationships, their involvement, and interaction. In the modern day world, human beings are characterized by different identities, which contribute to the social classification of our differences. For instance, concerning race, a person can be African (black), Caucasian, or Asian and straight or gay for sexual orientation. The list of elements to classify identity is infinite, similar to our possible identity affiliations.

Identity politics is a term that was developed as a result of social movements which emerged and came to the publics consciousness during the early 1960s in the United States. Actions such as the lesbian and gay liberation, black and feminist movements are just examples of social movements, which became mainstream leading to the emergence of political identity.

The choice of topic for my article stems from the desire to learn more about the identity of politics in the American context by investigating the different theoretical approaches to comprehend the connection between identity, politics, and class struggle in the United States. Moreover, my interest to research on insights, which view identity politics as an activist approach implemented through societal movements in the United States (U.S) to comprehend the influence of identity politics on class struggle that contributes to the marginalization of society, also formed a basis for the topics choice.

One of the theories addressed in the article involves the definition and history of identity politics. It is argued that individual identification through class in the U.S declined because of a variety of reasons such as the rise of social media which provided a false impression regarding the equity of social status, the rise in the peoples living standards and the changes that took place within political parties. In understanding the issue, the article analyzes organizations, most of which emerged throughout the War on Poverty and served as sources of socio-political activism across the United States. Apart from providing information regarding identity politics to define any mobilization affiliated with identity, beliefs, and politics, the article attempts to abridge the evaluations relating to identity politics with the societal analyses of the relationship between politics and identity that scholarly analysts such as Gitlin (1993) and Gertsle (2001) ignored.

The theory of class struggle relating to identity politics in the U.S is also discussed. It includes issues relating to the emergence of inequality, low wages and the overall erosion of working-class life in the nation. Despite few people questioning the main accomplishments of the social movements such as the civil rights movements, recent works on these organizations show their contradictions and boundaries. It is well-known that the civil rights regulations mainly profited the middle-class minorities as opposed to the poor in America. Specialists in humanities and social sciences, particularly in the field of identity politics, clear accepted predictions regarding outcome types that will develop because of organizing around social class. Thus, as the identity of a particular movement was externally enacted, it contributed to several societal grievances and disintegration of society.

The nature of the publication is informative to some extent as it dwells on the relationship that exists between identity politics and the rise of class struggle. Despite several theories lacking affiliation with any language of identity politics, the publication epitomizes efforts to comprehend the function of identity in a social movement environment and its influence on class struggle. It also questions the impact of transnational movements on the development and empowerment of identity and deployment of identities to challenge the governance of global institutions to enable researchers to gain a keen interest in the field of humanities and social sciences. Ideally, the publication aims to develop a causal link between its emergence and subsequent collapse of class politics. An examination of social movements views them as particularistic are frequently radical humanist at their primary and potentially emancipatory of all individuals. Consequently, the situation fractures society and undermines social cohesion.

The audience for the article is scholars in the field of humanities and social sciences wishing to gain an in-depth understanding of the concept of identity politics and the different theoretical approaches in comprehending the connection between identity, politics, and class struggle. Ideally, contributions on the relationships between politics, identity, power, and culture are quite scarce. Subsequently, identity becomes a source of principal concern on the grounds of action and the social movement theory. The publication is designed to help scholars to be in a better position to show how the concerns of activists are synonymously related to both the political economy and institutional structures.

In enhancing the significance of article, the format is designed in a comprehensive and structured form, which uses vocabulary from various concepts in political and social science. The information is intended to not only benefit university and college students undertaking a diploma or degree programme in the relevant studies but also to enhance research in historical disciplines. It is expected that the article will significantly contribute to researchers and sociologists gaining knowledge about the relationship that exists between a political stand and individual experiences, dilemmas faced by leaders of movements when their identities form the basis of oppression and the reasons why societies are viewed as socially constructed elements that should be unified.

In conclusion, recent years have witnessed the reemergence of class politics in the United States. Specifically, income inequality is slowly becoming a source of concern, which is revealed by the slave labor conditions that are taking a toll on several American citizens. It is quite ironic that despite the radical renewal in opposing the emergence of inequality, low wages, and the overall erosion of working-class life in the nation, the actions have been met with resistance from vocal spokespersons. Evidently, identity leads to the rise of liberal social movements as well as the marginalization of members of society because of socio-economic factors such as inequality, low wages, and the overall erosion of working-class life.

Research on identity politics continuously raises several questions, which sociologists attempt to unravel since the perpetrators of the class war lose touch on enlightenment thus resulting in radical humanism and universalism wedded to identity politics. It is recommended that people in society should try to look beyond minority issues and start focusing on the on what social movements advocate, imagine and develop in its achievement of a unified society. Sociologists can immensely contribute to the research on this field by examining the relationships between politics, identity, power, and culture to develop ways of improving social acceptance of the conflicting differences in society.

References

Gerstle, G. (2001). American crucible: Race and nation in the 20th century. Princeton: Princeton University.Gitlin, T. (1993). The rise of identity politics': an examination and a critique. Dissent, 40, 172-177.