The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time

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For much of their history, societies have violently oppressed ethnic, religious and sexual minorities. It is no surprise then that many who passionately believe in social justice have come to believe that members of marginalized groups need to take pride in their identity if they are to resist injustice.But over the past decades, a healthy appreciation for the culture and heritage of minorities has transformed into an obsession with group identity in all its forms. A new ideology – which Yascha Mounk terms the ‘identity synthesis’ – seeks to put each citizen’s matrix of identities at the heart of social, cultural and political life. This, he argues, is The Identity Trap. Mounk makes a nuanced but powerful philosophical case why the application of these ideas to areas from education to public policy is proving to be so deeply counterproductive. In his passionate plea for universalism and humanism he argues that although the proponents of identitarian ideas are full of good intentions, they will ultimately make it harder to achieve progress towards genuine equality.

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