Description
Book SynopsisTalks about the good, the bad, and the ugly of identity politics. This book addresses fundamental questions of urgency while keeping in focus their relevance to contemporary debates. It shows that identity-group politics is not aberrant but inescapable in democracies because identity groups represent who people are, not only what they want.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 2003 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Government and Political Science, Association of American Publishers "Typically, discussions of identity politics in American life are tinged with vitriol. Gutmann's book, by contrast, calms the debate with an unflappably reasonable analysis... She argues that, since humans are social creatures, identity politics is a permanent fixture of the political landscape."--The New Yorker "There is much to admire in this book. It is clearly written, deploys interesting and topical examples, and is accessible without losing important nuance and careful insight."--Margaret Moore, Political Science Quarterly "Although Gutmann writes as a philosopher, her text is accessible to the nonspecialist interested in analyzing core issues of diversity, identity, and community... Gutmann's analysis of identity groups is instructive to those who seek a more complex understanding of the tensions between expressions of individual identities and the creation of an equitable community."--Kristen A. Renn, Academe
Table of Contents*FrontMatter, pg. i*Contents, pg. vii*Acknowledgments, pg. ix*Introduction. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Identity Politics, pg. 1*Chapter One. The Claims of Cultural Identity Groups, pg. 38*Chapter Two. The Value of Voluntary Groups, pg. 86*Chapter Three. Identification by Ascription, pg. 117*Chapter Four. Is Religious Identity Special?, pg. 151*Conclusion. Integrating Identity in Democracy, pg. 192*Notes, pg. 213*Index, pg. 235
