Identity Politics

Identity politics refers to the ways that people who share common experiences, because of their social location(s) in a society, organize to address the inequities they often experience. Typically, this shared identity is a result of experiencing structural oppression. These groups collectively address the politics of inequity and marginalization through activism, research, and/or theorizing.

The concept of identity politics arose from an intersectional framework acknowledging the simultaneous systemic oppression experienced particularly by Black women in the United States. While the term identity politics was in use before this, the 1977 Combahee River Collective Statement—analyzing the interlocking oppressions of racism, sexism, economics, and heterosexism—defined and solidified it. Not only did the Collective’s articulation address shared structural inequalities, but it also called for the recognition of difference, not ...