The Construction of Social Inequality in Identity Politics Semantics

This paper examines how social inequality is constructed within contemporary identity politics and how this shift can be understood in sociological terms. My study, “The Sacralization of Identity”, analyzed contemporary auto(socio)biographies that address discrimination across various dimensions, including racism, sexism, and classism. Here, I focus on comparing the labor movement of the early 20th century with today’s identity politics. In the early 20th century, the labor movement emphasized the capital/labor distinction, viewing capitalism as the primary source of social inequality. This distinction represented two opposing groups within the social class structure, suggesting that a revolution to dismantle capitalism would ultimately abolish social inequality. In contrast, today’s identity politics fundamentally change how social inequality is understood. Rather than focusing solely on economic factors, identity politics encompass a broader range of discriminatory dimensions. They frame social inequality through the concepts of privilege and discrimination, highlighting that inequality arises from various forms of discrimination, including racism, sexism, and ableism. Individuals are seen as embodying both privileged and marginalized aspects of their identities, experiencing discrimination and privilege simultaneously. This complexity transforms the understanding of social structures, as the distinction no longer corresponds to two opposing groups but instead identifies the mechanisms of inequality production: discrimination. As a result, the privileged are no longer viewed as a clearly identifiable group. This shift refocuses the struggle against social inequality from combating a specific dominant group to encouraging individuals to take responsibility for learning and practicing non-discriminatory behavior. This analysis shows how influential the construction of social inequality is for social movements of social inequality and how important it is for sociology to observe which constructions are effective in the discourses on social inequality. Only in this way can it observe discourse mechanisms without itself becoming part of the discourses it observes.