02769cam a2200277 4500 1041411985 TxAuBib 20231107120000.0 230613s2023||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2023024750 9780593493182 hardcover 0593493184 hardcover (OCoLC)1382393430 TxAuBib Mounk, Yascha, 1982- The identity trap : a story of ideas and power in our time / Yascha Mounk. New York : Penguin Press, 2023. ©2023. 401 pages ; 25 cm. Includes bibliographical references (pages 295-383) and index. Introduction: The lure and the trap -- Part I. The origins of the identity synthesis. Postwar Paris and the trial of truth ; The end of empire and the embrace of "strategic essentialism" ; The rejection of the civil rights movement and the rise of critical race theory ; The identity synthesis -- Part II. The victory of the identity synthesis. The identity synthesis goes mainstream ; The short march through the institutions ; Dissent discouraged -- Part III. The flaws of the identity synthesis. How to understand each other ; The joys of mutual influence ; Speak freely ; The case for integration ; The path to equality ; On structural racism, gender, and meritocracy -- Part IV. In defense of universalism. A response to the identity synthesis ; A brief case for the liberal alternative -- Conclusion: How to escape the identity trap -- Appendix: Why the identity synthesis isn't Marxist. For much of history, societies have violently oppressed ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities. It is no surprise that many who passionately believe in social justice came to believe that members of marginalized groups need to take pride in their identity to resist injustice. Over the past decades, a healthy appreciation for the culture and heritage of minority groups has transformed into a counterproductive obsession with group identity in all its forms. Mounk believes a new ideology aiming to place each person's matrix of identities at the center of social, cultural, and political life has become influential, but it stifles discourse, vilifies mutual influence as cultural appropriation, and insists that the way governments treat their citizens should depend on the color of their skin. This identity trap will ultimately make it harder to achieve progress toward the genuine equality we desperately need. -- condensed from publisher info. 20231107. Identity politics United States. Mounk, Yascha, 1982-, New York : Penguin Press, 2023.