Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else) - Softcover

O. Táíwò, Olúfẹ́mi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745347851 ISBN 13: 9780745347851

Publisher: Pluto Press, 2022

Synopsis

'A thinker on fire' - Robin D. G. Kelley Identity politics is everywhere, polarising discourse from the campaign trail to the classroom and amplifying antagonisms in the media. But the compulsively referenced phrase bears little resemblance to the concept as first introduced by the radical Black feminist Combahee River Collective. While the Collective articulated a political viewpoint grounded in their own position as Black lesbians with the explicit aim of building solidarity across lines of difference, identity politics is now frequently weaponised as a means of closing ranks around ever-narrower conceptions of group interests. But the trouble, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò deftly argues, is not with identity politics itself. Through a substantive engagement with the global Black radical tradition and a critical understanding of racial capitalism, Táíwò identifies the process by which a radical concept can be stripped of its political substance and liberatory potential by becoming the victim of elite capture -deployed by political, social and economic elites in the service of their own interests. Táíwò’s crucial intervention both elucidates this complex process and helps us move beyond the binary of 'class’ vs. ‘race’. By rejecting elitist identity politics in favour of a constructive politics of radical solidarity, he advances the possibility of organising across our differences in the urgent struggle for a better world.

About this title

About the Author

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. His work draws liberally from the Black radical tradition, anti-colonial thought, German transcendental philosophy, contemporary philosophy of language, contemporary social science, and histories of activism and activist thinkers. His public philosophy, including articles exploring intersections of climate justice and colonialism, has been featured in 'The New Yorker', 'The Nation', 'Boston Review', 'Dissent', 'The Appeal', 'Slate', 'Al Jazeera', 'The New Republic', 'Aeon', and 'Foreign Policy'. He is the author of the book 'Reconsidering Reparations'.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0745347851
• ISBN 13: 9780745347851
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 168