Identity and Capitalism

'Identity', particularly as it is elaborated in the associated categories of 'personal' and 'social' identity, is a relatively novel concept in western thought, politics and culture. The explosion of interest in the notion of identity across popular, political and academic domains of practice since the 1960s does not represent the simple popularisation of an older term, as is widely assumed, but rather, the invention of an idea. Beginning from this surprising recognition, this book explores the emergence and evolution of the idea of identity in the cultural, political and social contexts of contemporary capitalist societies. Against the common supposition that identity always mattered, Marie Moran shows that what we now think of routinely as 'personal identity' actually only emerged with the explosion of consumption in the late-twentieth century. She also makes the case that what we now think of as different social and political 'identities' only came to be framed as such with the emergence of identity politics and new social movements in the political landscapes of capitalist societies in the 60s and 70s. Identity and Capitalism provides an important new exploration of the articulation of the idea of identity to the social logic of capitalism, from the 'organised capitalism' of the mid-twentieth century, up to and including the neoliberal capitalism that prevails today. Drawing on the work of Raymond Williams, the cultural materialist approach developed in this book provides an original means of addressing political debates about the value of identity in contemporary capitalist societies. It moves us beyond the restrictive opposition of 'political economy' to 'cultural studies', offering a new way of resolving seemingly intractable problems concerning culture and economy, identity and class, and recognition and redistribution.