Identity Politics
Have you ever heard of the term identity crisis? We use it so freely now these days, but not everyone might know that it was coined by the psychologist Erik Erikson. Fun fact: the guy didn’t even have a college degree, but he was just so good he became well-known in his field. According to his theory of personality, “personality development is characterized by an identity crisis” (Feist et al., 2017, p. 204) and that it starts at adolescence. It is said to be “a turning point in one’s life that may either strengthen or weaken personality” (Feist et al., 2017, p. 197).
If you’re a college student, you might have experienced (or are experiencing) an identity crisis. The late teens to early twenties is such a vital time for one to discover who they might be for the majority of their life. You’re young, your career is starting, you’re meeting new people all the time, and this is where you will transition to an adult. You’re young, and the people around you tend to expect so much when it comes to maturity at this age. But it’s hard to become that “mature person” when you don’t know who you are. Why is identity so important, and why do we struggle so much to find it?
Jonathan Haidt talks about identity politics in his video There are two kinds of identity politics. One is good. The other, very bad. It’s interesting to note that identity politics could be so common in universities. I myself didn’t even know that this had a name. ever since the ancient times, humans have been a species that rely so heavily on labels. The ruler who leads a war is one that longs for more power; because power means title, and title means identity. Our roles in society also give us identity. But some of these roles aren’t really pleasant ones to have, especially those that are forced down upon certain groups. Jonathan Haidt mentioned Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, which is a great example for identity politics due to its widespread influence towards today’s identity politics. Basically, identity politics arose because humans realized that they can have the freedom to be who they are despite the imposing labels of an oppressive society.
To some extent, identity politics CAN and will sometimes be too much. This generation, with all the fast-paced transfer of information, is advancing day by day. You could probably list a series of traits and characteristics, or maybe state a mere (could be unique) experience and paste it on a google search bar and boom — you got yourself a new label. I’m talking about those not-very common phobias and not-very common gender and sexuality terms. Maybe you’ve encountered someone who openly calls themself a something-phile because they just love that ‘something’ so much. It comes to the point that people use these labels to call someone out for not knowing these labels. There’s that ‘I’m offended, and this is oppressive’ sort of phenomenon going on in this type of situation. Isn’t it presumptuous to expect everyone to know all these terms? It’s not a good thing to correct someone by saying it in a way that seems to attack them rather than educating them. Even if they seem to be too stubborn to understand, we can do our part in a friendly, non-hostile way, maybe just so the world can be a friendlier place.
Identity politics can sometimes be as simple as these types of labels. We might not see it for it is right away, but getting these labels wrong can affect other people so much. We’ve definitely come a long way as a society because of the people that fought for our rights. They’ve fought so much that we are able to use these labels in the 21st century. It’s best not to abuse it, and use it only for the right and good contexts.
References
Big Think. (2018, December 5). There are two kinds of identity politics. One is good. The other, very bad. | Jonathan Haidt [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/l-_yIhW9Ias
Feist, J., Feist, G. J., & Roberts, T. (2017). Theories of personality. (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.