identity politics

noun

plural in form but singular or plural in construction

: politics in which groups of people having a particular racial, religious, ethnic, social, or cultural identity tend to promote their own specific interests or concerns without regard to the interests or concerns of any larger political group

Although the UCLA center's standards promoted rigorous history, they set off a major culture war because of their relentless emphasis on identity politics.

—Diane Ravitch

Identity politics is contemporary shorthand for a group's assertion that it is a meaningful group; that it differs significantly from other groups; that its members share a history of injustice and grievance; and that its psychological and political mission is to explore, act out, act on and act up its group identity.

—Catharine R. Stimpson

A number of critics have viewed her work through a lens of identity politics, taking her to be some sort of oracle of Muslim womanhood.

—Lauren Collins

Examples of identity politics in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And still others are urging the party to avoid identity politics altogether — even when Republicans seem to be opening themselves up to a fierce counterattack. —Shane Goldmacher, New York Times, 8 Feb. 2025

The world has shifted off its axis since that relatively halcyon time when identity politics, the subject of FastHorse’s farce, could be debated, mocked, ranted over and defended without fear of governmental reprisal. —Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 7 Feb. 2025

Similar debates have shot through the many battlefronts of the culture wars, such as identity politics and the debate over what books belong in the canon. —Ralph Leonard, The Atlantic, 4 Feb. 2025

Like other candidates, Martin promised to focus the party on the working class, as Trump and his allies branded Democrats as too consumed with identity politics and beholden to coastal elites. —Ted Johnson, Deadline, 1 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1970, in the meaning defined above