Critics of identity politics argue that close attention to matters of race, gender and sexuality distracts from “real” politics — by which they typically mean the struggle between labor and capital over the distribution of material resources.
But that view of politics assumes that class identity is an objective fact — a sociological datum or index to be read off a chart. In fact, class identity can be known only through its embodiment in words and deeds. It is just as subjective or performative as, say, gender has come to be understood in queer theory.
Allow me, then, to defend identity politics by challenging the three assumptions that its critics make. First, they take for granted that any departure from the universalism of The enlightenment is a threat to the idea of equality and human rights as well. Second, they believe that identity politics are essentialist: Social roles are assigned according to social origins, foreclosing the achievement of a chosen individuality.