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Identity Politics

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Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology

Introduction

In contrast to identity research – be it personal, group, or social identity – research in identity politics is concerned with the political aspects of identity formation. In particular, it asks about the relation of minority and majority groups and the formation of interests and power relations according to the belongingness of individuals to social groups. Typically, race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and more recently religious beliefs, as well as the question of empowerment of oppressed groups in general, are of major concern to identity politics research. A central aim is to give voice to the oppressed, to enable them to express their life situation in their own terms. While research in identity is a major concern in personality and social psychology, identity politics is only marginally touched upon by traditional psychologists and instead deferred to political science and sociology. Among critical and more interdisciplinary oriented psychologists, identity...

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Dege, M. (2014). Identity Politics. In: Teo, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_586

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_586

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