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

At Yale, he was evidently steeped in the identity politics and postmodernism of the 1990s and wanted to both embrace and critique the Eurocentric art history he had been taught about. —Rachel Corbett, Vulture, 5 Nov. 2024

Harris began her presidential campaign by consciously and correctly leaning away from the type of identity politics that has obsessed Democrats for too long. —Bret Stephens, The Mercury News, 24 Oct. 2024

Harris, a daughter of immigrants, has deliberately taken an approach that shifts away from identity politics and emphasizes her economic pitch instead. —Chad De Guzman, TIME, 24 Oct. 2024

Zoom in: Newlin says most people wrongly associate their movement with identity politics, which leads to stereotypes. —Justin Kaufmann, Axios, 10 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1970, in the meaning defined above