Identity Politics – A Critique of Criticism

Even the title of Karsten Schubert’s book “In Praise of Identity Politics” reveals an unusual approach to the topic. There is widespread rejection of this across all political camps. Too much identity restricts our freedom, for example our usual language, goes a common saying.

Schubert is an expert in political theory and an expert on the power theory of the French philosopher Michel Foucault. Armed with this toolbox, he looks deeper into the history and constitution of modern society. Since the Enlightenment and the development of the rule of law, individual rights have been derived from being human. The individual should be protected from illegitimate restrictions on political rule. Freedom and equality have been declared universal rights since the French Revolution. The concept of freedom also includes the protection of property and its increase. The young Karl Marx already criticized the fact that this leads to exclusions. But there are also other exclusions, of women and of black people who have not been granted the same freedoms. The exclusion of the working class was succinctly castigated by Marx and Friedrich Engels. Schubert states: “The first form of modern identity politics is class politics.”

Identity politics is therefore not a recent phenomenon. However, more groups are now citing identity, for example queer people. Schubert states: “Identity politics is a predominantly left-wing and emancipatory politics of marginalized groups that is committed to combating discrimination such as racism, sexism and queer hostility.” Even though a lot has changed, the working class no longer lives in Manchester capitalism, gay men are not imprisoned for years If women and Jews are equal citizens, exclusions and discrimination continue to exist. Women earn less than men, black people are more likely to be stopped by the police, and much more. The author looks at today’s exclusions with a radical understanding of democratic theory. He refers to Foucault, who viewed power as omnipresent and constitutive of our society. What we perceive as rational is produced by power. Following Schubert, one could conclude, for example, that anyone who refers to “reason and justice,” as Sahra Wagenknecht does with her new party as a slogan, wants to preserve certain power relations and establish exclusions.

“Cancel culture” and “political correctness” are two controversial terms in current political debates. There are hardly any serious supporters of this strategy within the political sphere. “Cancel culture” refers negatively to political interventions that seek to exclude or cancel something. The painting of a poem on the wall of the Alice Salomon University in Berlin-Hellersdorf in 2018 is often referred to as an example. Eugen Gomringer’s poem was described as sexist. After a petition from the student committee and a decision from the university, it was painted over. There were also heated articles about this in this newspaper.

“Political Correctness” is usually used to describe interventions in language. The gender asterisk

or the cheap schnitzel with a tomato and pepper sauce that no longer refers to a population group in the name. Here, too, Schubert wants to move away from the level of appearance. In his view, those who reject “cancel culture” and “political correctness” are referring to a concept of freedom that is distorted. They only look at freedom from the perspective of the privileged in order to establish discrimination, says Schubert. Conservatives, right-wingers, ex-leftists, but also leftists would want to preserve something that restricts other people’s freedom. They are concerned with “blocking criticism of sexism, racism and trans- and queer-phobia.” Even if he – in my opinion aptly – reveals a “right-Nietzschesian” core of critics that needs to be criticized, he should have taken greater account of the fact that emancipatory forces also have a duty to explain discrimination and exclusion and to lobby broad social majorities for a change in language and to promote art.

In the following, Schubert argues for a “constructivist identity politics” that avoids referring “essentially” to an identity. For Schubert, identity politics is “a social laboratory for new subjectifications that make it possible to break the corset of dominant norms.” She must always question herself and avoid only looking at the interests of one group. Raising awareness of further discrimination and forming alliances are important. Even a group is always riddled with exclusions. Black feminists draw attention to the white character of the women’s movement in the USA, while socialist women in this country denounce the bourgeois orientation of the German women’s movement. Identity politics must avoid such exclusions: “Identity politics can be called democratic if, in the struggle for better representation in the institutions of the majority society, it takes effective action against its own distortions of representation.”

Perhaps the most serious objection to identity politics is that it is anti-universalist. She only looks at particular interests. This is also argued by Marxists. Schubert emphasizes that one must start from the particular in order to arrive at the general. He concludes: “We need a critique of identity politics so that it holds a mirror up to society, because this is the only way we can actually make society better for everyone.”

Of course, and Schubert does not deny this, there is excessive identity politics, especially when it comes across as elitist and exalted. He calls this regressive identity politics. Schubert’s concern is left-wing, progressive. With his book he wants to give strength to groups that suffer in this society in order to change and further democratize society. According to Schubert, invoking an identity is a necessary key to achieving this goal. Some women, black and queer people are already successful. But against the backdrop of “unleashed capitalism,” Schubert wants a “new economics-focused identity politics.” The author should have taken this idea, which was only formulated at the back of the book, into account more systematically throughout his entire argument. Otherwise: The reading offers food that is not always easy, but all the more substantial.
Karsten Schubert: Praise of identity politics, CH Beck, 225 pages, hardcover, €20.