The Revolutionary Road to Me: Identity Politics and the Western Left

Author:   Chetan Bhatt
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons Ltd
ISBN:  

9781509559541


Pages:   220
Publication Date:   29 November 2024
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Awaiting stock   Availability explained


Our Price $113.95 Quantity:  
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The Revolutionary Road to Me: Identity Politics and the Western Left


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Overview

How can the left be credible when it can’t decide what a woman is? How can antiracists fight for equality if they promote fictions about race? If identity politics is the answer, why are so many Western left organisations being damaged by it? As the culture wars rage, this compelling book examines why much of the Western political left has foundered because of identity politics. Identity issues have mired many good organisations in intractable conflicts and deflected them from their purpose. In ignoring poverty and inequality, the Western left has lost its way. Meanwhile, powerful social movements from the past – black, women’s, gay and lesbian – are reduced to corporate slogans. Attuned to the needs of activists and academics, this book offers intelligent explanations for how we got here.  It examines serious problems with antiracism, transgender rights activism, and the work of LGBTQ+ groups. In showing how identities are outcomes of social and institutional forces, it argues that technofinancial capitalism uses identity politics to mould new labour processes for the Western middle class while accelerating economic inequality. Clearing a path through the vagaries of identity politics, the book offers arguments the Western left must face amidst formidable far-right and right-wing authoritarianism, climate emergency and severe inequalities.

Full Product Details

Author:   Chetan Bhatt
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Imprint:   Polity Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.80cm , Height: 2.90cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.510kg
ISBN:  

9781509559541


ISBN 10:   150955954
Pages:   220
Publication Date:   29 November 2024
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Awaiting stock   Availability explained

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Chapter 1:  The Heat of Identity Chapter 2: The Self, the Group, and Identity Politics Chapter 3: Identitarian Technocracy and the Liberal Middle Class Chapter 4: The Queer Empire and Post-Truth Politics Chapter 5: Proximate, Immediate, Emotional: Identitarian Antiracism Chapter 6: Culture, Identity, and Antiracism Chapter 7:  Diminishing Utopias Notes Index

Reviews

""This book provides a nuanced and clear-headed insight into debates about identity politics in the world around us. Bhatt’s strident intervention seeks to make readers rethink this whole issue."" Professor John Solomos, University of Warwick ""Reading Chetan Bhatt’s book is like watching a skilled surgeon dissect a diseased body. He exposes the neoliberal, economic and regulatory conditions in which a particular type of left wing identity politics has thrived within our institutions to devastating illiberal effects. What is so welcome about this book is that the narrative does not get bogged down in rehearsing the requisite academic literature – rather the prose, the diagnosis, the argument and analysis is driven by the careful use of examples. This is a must read."" Jo Phoenix, University of Reading


Author Information

Chetan Bhatt is Anthony Giddens Professor of Social Theory at LSE.

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