BK on "identity"

[Doug Henwood]

On Patrick Bond's urging, I picked up a copy of Boris Kagarlitsky's 
trilogy, published by Pluto. In The Return of Radicalism, we learn 
(just after an approving quote from Todd Gitlin): "All identity is 
social, but class is the quintessence of the social. Unlike race, 
sex, culture, or place of birth, class cannot be determined except by 
the positions of the individual in society, and cannot be reproduced 
except through participation in the functioning of the economic 
system" (p. 95).

Really? I don't see how anyone in the U.S. or South Africa could 
claim that race is irrelevant to one's participation in the economic 
system, or how anyone on the planet could claim that sex/gender 
wasn't deeply tied to participation in the economic system. Basically 
this sounds like the same old class v. identity crap that I thought 
was on its deathbed.

So Patrick, what's so exciting about this trilogy? Where should I 
turn for inspiration other than p. 95?

Doug