Abstract
Abstract: In this paper I will deal with identity only as collective identity, and not as
personal identity which raises complex metaphysical questions. I shall start my
argument by contextualizing the issue of collective identity which became relevant in
the discussion on multiculturalism in the Nineties, and was known under the label of
“identity politics”. The thesis that I want to defend is as follows: the claim to identity
recognition grasps an important insufficiency of the universalistic approach of libel and
democratic theory. Yet, such insufficiency is neither properly analyzed nor adequately
addressed. I propose a negative approach to collective identity, for this notion, if used
in the negative, allows to see practices of discrimination, oppression and exclusion; if,
by contrast, it is used in the positive to ground a model of just society, turns out to be
a problematic proposal, at odds with some cherished ideals of the liberal democratic
society. The paper is articulated in the following section: section 1: what is the problem
of injustice which identity politics was supposed to remedy? Section 2: what are the
problems engendered by identity politics to the ideals of liberal democracy. Section 3:
which reinterpretation of collective identity can addressed the issue raised in section
(1) without causing the troubles analyzed in section (2)?
Titolo tradotto del contributo | The instrumental value of collective identity |
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Lingua originale | Italian |
pagine (da-a) | 94-102 |
Numero di pagine | 9 |
Rivista | Notizie di Politeia |
Volume | 35 |
Numero di pubblicazione | 135 |
Stato di pubblicazione | Pubblicato - 2019 |
Keywords
- Collective identity
- Discrimination
- Exclusion
- Identity politics
- Universalism