identity politics

noun

plural in form but singular or plural in construction

: politics in which groups of people having a particular racial, religious, ethnic, social, or cultural identity tend to promote their own specific interests or concerns without regard to the interests or concerns of any larger political group

Although the UCLA center's standards promoted rigorous history, they set off a major culture war because of their relentless emphasis on identity politics.

—Diane Ravitch

Identity politics is contemporary shorthand for a group's assertion that it is a meaningful group; that it differs significantly from other groups; that its members share a history of injustice and grievance; and that its psychological and political mission is to explore, act out, act on and act up its group identity.

—Catharine R. Stimpson

A number of critics have viewed her work through a lens of identity politics, taking her to be some sort of oracle of Muslim womanhood.

—Lauren Collins

Examples of identity politics in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That’s largely thanks to a constant, toxic deluge of controversial identity politics that all but ensures that everyone is comfortably and effectively divided. —Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2025

Nor can identity politics improve upon it. —Paul Goldman, Hartford Courant, 7 Aug. 2025

Williams begins by claiming that there was a brief golden period when Americans might have joined together to avert the disaster of identity politics. —Andrea Long Chu, Vulture, 5 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1970, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for identity politics

• biopolitics
• bolsheviks
• candlesticks
• crucifix
• intermix
• lunatics
• mensheviks
• orthotics
• politicks
• bricks
• brix
• chicks