Ideology and Identity Politics

What Is Identity Politics?

Identity politics refers to political activity organized around shared characteristics like race, gender, sexuality, religion, or ethnicity rather than (or in addition to) traditional class-based or ideological categories. The term was coined by the Combahee River Collective, a group of Black feminist socialists, in 1977. Their argument was straightforward: because Black women experienced a specific combination of racial and gender oppression, their political organizing had to address their specific situation, not subsume it under a generic 'workers' movement.

Identity politics is not new. All politics involves identity. When white Southern Democrats organized around racial segregation in the 1950s, that was identity politics. When Catholic immigrants built the urban Democratic machines of the 19th century, that was identity politics. What changed in recent decades is the explicit theorization of identity as a political category and the multiplication of identity-based claims.

Identity on Left and Right

On the left, identity politics takes the form of movements for racial justice (Black Lives Matter), LGBTQ+ rights, Indigenous sovereignty, and disability rights. The underlying logic is that groups that have been systematically excluded from power need to organize around their shared experience to achieve justice.

On the right, identity politics manifests as white identity movements, Christian nationalism, and appeals to traditional cultural identity threatened by immigration and demographic change. Donald Trump's 'Make America Great Again' was explicitly an identity appeal: the 'America' being made great again was a specific cultural vision, not a universal one. Viktor Orban's 'illiberal democracy' in Hungary is organized around Hungarian ethnic and Christian identity.

The debate about identity politics is really a debate about whether identity or class is the more fundamental axis of political life. Critics from both the socialist left (who want class solidarity) and the liberal center (who want universal citizenship) argue that identity politics fragments potential coalitions. Defenders argue that ignoring identity means ignoring the actual mechanisms through which power operates.