Work Report on Identity Politics - Paper Example

Identity does not just entail the shared experiences of an individual with specific people but also what separates the person from others. Identity in its basic form fosters a sense of personal location which is essential for individuality. Individuality itself is about persons I 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. An excellent case of identity is classes based on race since a person can either be African (black), Caucasian, or Asian and straight or gay depending on their sexual orientation. The list of elements that classify identity is infinite, like our possible identity affiliations.

Identity politics is a term that came into existence because social movements which emerged and attracted 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 changes which became mainstream leading to the emergence of political identity. In subsequent years, only three scholarly journals used the term identity politics within their abstracts. The researchers described the word as a critical pedagogy which associates social constructs with the comprehensions of post-structuralism relating to the concept of prejudice by employing Marxist assurances to legislation.

The objectives of the article concerning identity politics were:

To explore the normative political claims and show that beneath these claims exist a relationship between politics and identity

To analyze the various approaches used define identity politics as one of the political practices employed in the US

To investigate the different theoretical approaches that comprehend the connection between identity, politics, knowledge, power, and culture.

Methodology

The article explored the normative political claims and showed that beneath these claims existed a relationship between politics and identity. It also examined the competing theoretical approaches to comprehend the association between identity, experience, power, politics, and culture. Despite the occasional referencing of ethnic/ nationalist movements and multiculturalism, the focus prioritized insights, which view identity politics as an activist approach implemented through societal actions in the United States. I conducted my research on identity politics using various books and journals but specifically Bernsteins (2005). Identity politics and Bromleys (1989) Identity politics and critical pedagogy.

"Identity Politics" Journal (Bernstein 2005)

"Identity politics" journal is scholarly research that forms the basis of this article because it highlights social movements in the United States by nationalistic or ethnic status. It is an appropriate medium for this article since it delves into various approaches used to define identity politics as one of the political practices commonly practiced in the country such as the Neo-Marxist approach as well as the various class-based works that aid to categorize different types of movements. It also explores poststructuralist evaluations, which relate identity politics with political activism and not cultural activism. Moreover, the article consists of an analysis of research insights which view identity politics as an activist approach implemented through societal movements in the United States. In analyzing the outcomes, the article relied on previous studies to investigate specific events that occurred leading to the identity of an action being externally enacted for its contribution to societal grievances.

Results

Findings indicated that identity politics in the United States emerged because of the decline of the civil rights movement. Organizations of social changes in the US relied on identity rather than social class. Despite the theory not affiliated with any language of identity politics, it epitomized the initial attempted efforts to comprehend the function of peoples status in social action. An investigation of the approaches to identity politics in the US revealed three outcomes namely:

New Social Movement (NSM) Approaches

Social Constructionist, Postmodernist, and Poststructuralist Approach

Neo-Marxist Approaches

The first approach discussed, the NSM approach, differs from other methods since it surpasses the criticisms of other theories. It appreciates the various social movements such as the civil rights or black campaigns, which were created during the early 1960s. It provoked the rationalist elements of political process theory, resource enlistment and social change theory meant to fix issues relating to culture and identity. The social movement theory sort to expound on mobilization, which linked to when and why individuals act.

Secondly, the Social Constructionist, Postmodernist, and Poststructuralist approach. The theories in this approach identify social organization by economic inequality. The outcome stems from the presence of the status categories encompasses federal legislation in postmodernism in the US. The involvement in identity classifications contributes to inequality and consolidate the classes capable of increasing the use of social classes to regulate as well as administer superiority over secondary status groups. Despite the calls of difference and authenticity to be used to counter dominant groups in the US, the claims contribute to an awkward convergence of racist rights and ethical nationalism which fuse to create organizations such ethnicity and race.

Lastly, the Neo-Marxist approaches rely on a philosophy of power that assumes inequality originating from social class is the significant primary source of oppression and exploitation. Subsequently, identity politics cannot be viewed as a partisan exercise which defies vital elements of power but should be seen in psychological, ethical and symbolic expressions. A contrast to the neo-Marxist theories reveals that social actions such as the civil rights movements emphasized the groups identity and culture rather than opposing the existing class structures meaning that identity politics politicized various aspects of life during the period.

Analysis and Conclusion

The designation of movements basing on an individual or societal status of identities in the US emerged because of scholarly efforts meant to ascertain whether a specific political practice upholds psychological, emblematic, and ethical values. The various theoretical approaches to identity politics reveal that postmodernism reached a contradictory conclusion thereby suggesting that it involves reformist activism as opposed to moral activism. Therefore, identity politics is somewhat expressive than self-explanatory.

Race and class are two factors, which played significant roles in the emergence of social movements during the 1960sin the US. Despite the period contributing to liberal achievements, the coalitions that sought gender, race and social inequality collapsed in less than ten years. Few individuals may question the impact or success of the social movements, but recent studies on the institutions reveal the significant contradictions and limitations. It is important to note that most of the outcomes of the social actions benefited the middle-class more than the poor citizens in the country. The thought that the decline of identity politics would result in class identification is a clear indication of the positive relationship that exists between politics and identity. It is evident that identity politics is an activist approach implemented through societal movements in the United States. Therefore the external enacting of a specific campaign based on identity contributes to several societal grievances.

In conclusion, it is evident that the study on identity politics continuously develops several queries which researchers are determined to discover. Issues such as the influence of transnational movements on the development and empowerment of identity and deployment of identities to challenge the governance of global institutions should enable research on the identity politics to comprehend the relationship between identity, politics, experience, power, and culture.

References

Bernstein, M. (2005). Identity politics. Annu. Rev. Sociol., 31, 47-74.

Bromley H. 1989. Identity politics and critical pedagogy. Educ. Theory 39(3):207-23

Touraine, A. (1998). Sociology without society. Current Sociology, 46(2), 119-143.