The Identity Myth

We are in crisis. As a society we have never been less connected. The internet and globalisation fuel ignorance and anger, while the disconnect between people's reality and perceived identities has never been greater. Karl Marx outlined the idea of a material 'base' and politico-cultural 'superstructure'. According to this formula, a material reality - wealth, income, occupation - determined your politics, leisure habits, tastes, and how you made sense of the world. In 'The Identity Myth', David Swift covers the four different kinds of identity most susceptible to this trend - class, race, sex, and age. He considers how the boundaries of identities are policed and how diverse versions of the same identity can be deployed to different ends.