Study On Identity Politics In Contemporary American Politics

Identity politics is a central issue in contemporary American politics.From the affirmative actions of the minority groups in the 1960 s to the rise of the current middle and lower working classes identity movements,the discourse categories of contemporary American identity politics have gradually expanded from the minorities to the majorities,which results in a binary opposition pattern for identity politics.The original intention of identity politics is to strive for social equality and the interests of minorities,promote social democracy,however,with the imbalance of American political and economic structure and the fierce competition between the two parties,identity politics gradually becomes a sharp knife that enables the parties to transfer domestic contradictions and covers up deep social ills,all that dramatically intensify the social division and political polarization in the United States.At present,the "national identity" in the United States is suffering from a huge crisis,and the antagonisms and confrontations among ethnic groups and classes are the direct cause of the disorder of the current American social order.At the same time,the fragmented ethnic identities and the classes contradictions are intertwined and interacted,which not only does make it more complicated for identity political issues,but more importantly,the effectiveness of American public policy mostly focusing on identity politics has been greatly weakened.Contemporary American politics is suffering from an identity political dilemma,and the return of civic politics and class politics cannot utterly bridge the rift existing in American society.As long as the root of social contradictions is not solved,the identity political movements in the United States will continue.Firstly,this article clarifies the connotations and characteristics of contemporary American identity politics,tracing the origins and the development of contemporary American identity political movements in history.And then,this paper analyzes the action logic of those based on the perspective of "subjective" and "objective",namely the subjective demands of different groups,and the objective stimulative factors including American political cultures,profound social contradictions,and fierce party competitions.Based on the above contents and combined with the current situations of American politics,this paper analyzes and summarizes the positive and negative effects of contemporary American identity politics,and further evaluates the two western mainstream solving plans for the identity political dilemma,namely “Return to Civic Politics” and “Return to Class Politics”,and points out their limitations.In the end,the paper explores the future trend of contemporary American identity politics,that is,divisions and polarization have become the normal of American politics,which means that identity politics will continue.And also,under those unclear objective factors,there is still the possibility of further aggravation.