The Identity Trap
A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time
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The Identity Trap
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Narrated by:
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JD Jackson
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By:
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Yascha Mounk
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
The origins, consequences and limitations of an ideology that has quickly become highly influential around the world.
For much of their history, societies have violently oppressed ethnic, religious and sexual minorities. It is no surprise then that many who passionately believe in social justice have come to believe that members of marginalized groups need to take pride in their identity if they are to resist injustice.
But over the past decades, a healthy appreciation for the culture and heritage of minorities has transformed into an obsession with group identity in all its forms. A new ideology - which Yascha Mounk terms the 'identity synthesis' - seeks to put each citizen's matrix of identities at the heart of social, cultural and political life. This, he argues, is The Identity Trap.
Mounk traces the intellectual origin of these ideas. He tells the story of how they were able to win tremendous power over the past decade. And he makes a nuanced case why their application to areas from education to public policy is proving to be deeply counterproductive. In his passionate plea for universalism and humanism, he argues that the proponents of identitarian ideas will, though they may be full of good intentions, make it harder to achieve progress towards genuine equality.
©2023 Yascha Mounk (P)2023 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Robert Smith
- 28-11-23
Essential reading.
Essential reading for those who are frustrated to see the consequences of the postmodern turn in the left in relation to its preoccupation with identity particularism and the rejection of universal human rights and universal reason in the US and UK, in particular. It provides an illuminating and long overdue explanation of that the reactionism of the internet cultures, combined with the popular adoption of postmodern critical theory has stymied challenging real-world concerns and issues relating to social injustice.
Mounk has argued that instead of providing a better society in which different groups mutually understand each other, the "identity synthesis" (identity politics) has only serves to entrench identity divides because its postmodern intellectuals believe that people from different identities can't hope to ever understand one another, Mounk provides a compelling argument to reject the identity synthesis because of the damage this has done to public discussion/debate and the ineffectiveness that it has in creating solutions.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Simon Roue
- 12-12-23
Devastating critique of woke ideology
An excellent, easily digestible and thoroughly required critique of what is an increasingly poisonous ideology sweeping the west
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 19-01-24
useful and hopeful
An excellent book. Both hopeful and positive and offers a way to break free from the false and forced choices of the identity synthesis.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 22-11-23
A powerful and convincing exposition, undermined by poor narration
This is a very well written, reasoned and structured explanation of how the recent trend towards identity politics came into being and escaped college campuses and entered the “real world”. The first half with its historical / cultural focus was particularly powerful.
I found the arguments convincing but in places overstated. The extent to which the issues described affect my own country (UK) simply don’t compare to my lived experience. I also found the final section on how to resist the identity trap to be applicable to any form of authoritarianism rather than this particular one.
I’d highly recommend reading the book - just avoid the Audible narration which was pretty poor. The intonation throughout was frankly bizarre and it sounded a few too many tobacco products have been consumed down the years
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 29-09-23
A sensible analysis of identity politics
Yascha Mounk makes a thorough, carefully considered—yet duly considerate—analysis of the recent phenomenon of identity politics, its roots and allure, and above all, its very real dangers. My concern is that the people who most need to heed this book's lessons, on both extremes of the political spectrum, might be put off by its rational, moderate and nuanced treatment of a subject that's usually understood only in simplistic and polarized terms; this comprehensive work goes firmly against that trend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Maria
- 29-12-23
Far more even-handed than I expected
I was promoted by the Guardian review to expect this to be a bit of a “PC gone mad” type of book, but it wasn’t. No straw men basically which I appreciated. Thoughtful book. Would recommend.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 16-01-24
Intellectually engaging
Mounk offers a liberal retort to Wokeism, an intellectual history of Woke and a guide to hos to challenge this authoritarian ideology in the future. Highly recommend, even if you’ve read the likes of McWhorter, Doyle, Lindsay, etc
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- M R F
- 23-11-23
An excellent book
Incredibly interesting. Well written and well argued. Best non-fiction book I’ve read this year.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Megan
- 07-11-24
Great book, not crazy about the reader
The book is thought provoking and makes a lot of concessions to left wing ideas while pointing out the serious ethical and intellectual flaws in what might be called woke ideology. I found the summaries at the end of each chapter very helpful. The author sets himself up as a public intellectual and I think has serious credentials to justify this.
I didn’t like the reader. His voice and accentuations grated me. And while his reading is generally competent sometimes he gets the emphasis and pronunciation wrong. I say this only in the interests of feedback to Audible. This needn’t prevent you from listening.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Aardvark
- 26-04-24
More info about the dangers of Woke
Very heavy going. Boring narrator. Some questionable statements such as 'blacks having more chance of being gunned down by cops', when we know more whites than blacks are killed by American cops. So there.
Ok overall, though would've used my credit elsewhere to be honest.
Good or bad then?
Mmmm, informative, but BORING.
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