{"id":4569,"date":"2018-04-28T12:08:57","date_gmt":"2018-04-28T12:08:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2018\/04\/28\/anti-identity-politics\/"},"modified":"2018-04-28T12:08:57","modified_gmt":"2018-04-28T12:08:57","slug":"anti-identity-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2018\/04\/28\/anti-identity-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Leftist Politics Anti-Identity Politics?"},"content":{"rendered":"

S. J. writes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
Reading your posts lately, the following thought struck me. I wonder if it's struck you, and if you'd agree:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Identity politics is a misleading name for the recent catastrophic turn in so-called progressive politics. For what it actually aims at primarily is the *destruction* of traditional modes of identity, which are, loosely speaking, summarised by the slogan "faith, flag and family". What it replaces those with is of secondary importance to that central mission.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
That's why the obvious contradictions, and vicious internecine rivalries, on the left seem not (with certain honourable exceptions) to lead to anything approaching the self-doubt and ideological re-evaluation that conservatives assume – logically from their own frame of reference – that they ought. For it simply doesn't matter to the contemporary leftist that his preferred categories are flimsy and self-contradictory. They're only a means to an end; a solvent to be applied to the older forms of identity and self-understanding.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
On which account, it would be far more truthful to reckon it "anti-identity politics".<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
(I might also add that we should therefore avoid the trap of playing up too much the individualism that, rightly understood, is central to much conservative thought, to the point of downplaying those old and authentic attachments – and so allowing the left to pose, utterly falsely, as the champions of community and relational life.)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
With heartfelt thanks for the stimulation to thought, not to say sheer enjoyment, that your blog continues to provide.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
My kind reader is suggesting that left-wing politics is destructive of traditional forms of identity and therefore best understood as anti-identity politics rather than as identity politics.  <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/span><\/div>\n
I see matters differently. There is an identity politics of the Left and an identity politics of the Right.  This became obvious to me  when, after objecting to the tribalism of blacks, Hispanics, and other racial\/ethnic groups, and after calling for a transcending of tribalism, I was countered by certain alt-rightists\/neo-reactionaries who reject any such transcending and think that what is needed is a white tribalism to oppose tribalisms 'of color.' See If I'm a Racist, then You're a Tribalist!<\/a>  (56 good comments).<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/span><\/div>\n
As I see it, there is nothing inherently leftist or rightist about identity politics in the way political correctness is inherently leftist. (Anyone who is politically correct is by definition<\/a> a leftist.)  So what is it to be identity-political? I suggest that it is to take one's primary<\/em> self-identification to be a tribal<\/em> identification, an identification in terms of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, religion, disability, socio-economic class, or some combination of these.<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
In a separate post I hope to clarify and develop this suggestion.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/span><\/div>\n
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<\/a>The Greatest Risk We are Taking<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

S. J. writes, Reading your posts lately, the following thought struck me. I wonder if it's struck you, and if you'd agree: Identity politics is a misleading name for the recent catastrophic turn in so-called progressive politics. For what it actually aims at primarily is the *destruction* of traditional modes of identity, which are, loosely … Continue reading “Is Leftist Politics Anti-Identity Politics?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[520,163],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-identity-politics-and-tribalism","category-leftism-and-political-correctness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4569\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}