[lbo-talk] Identity vs. class politics

joanna 123hop at comcast.net
Thu Jan 25 23:32:44 PST 2007


C. G. Estabrook wrote:


> [Zizek points out that the holy trinity of American left/liberalism --
> gender, race, and class -- are not alike: the first two (female/male,
> black/white) can be solved by reconciliation, but not the third
> (exploited/exploiter). The following review from the New York
> Observer suggests that this book is a worthwhile discussion of the
> theme. --CGE]
>
> Wit and Sharp Argument Skewer a Damaging Euphemism
> *The Trouble with Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity
> and Ignore Inequality*, by Walter Benn Michaels.
> Metropolitan, 241 pages, $23.
>
>

I knew Walter Michaels at UC Berkeley. At the time he struck me as an intelligent opportunist. I suppose that probably describes 90% of the people in academia....so maybe it's not worth much to remark upon it.

I have not read the book but I remember thinking that if Walter is writing in this vein, perhaps the tide is turning. Or maybe he's gotten brave in his old age.

What I wonder about in reading the review is how "diversity" has become an exclusively "left" issue. On the other hand, the political discourse has become so distorted in the last twenty five years, that the term "left" probably doesn't mean very much any more.

Joanna



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