Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment
Welcome to the "Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment" launch page! Watch the videos, follow Francis Fukuyama's book tour schedule, download the book cover, and follow us on social media for more!
A great deal of what we conventionally take to be economic motivation driven by material needs or desires is in fact a thymotic desire for recognition of one's dignity or status.
FRANCIS FUKUYAMA
Identity
Demand for recognition of one’s identity is a master concept that unifies much of what is going on in world politics today. The universal recognition on which liberal democracy is based has been increasingly challenged by narrower forms of recognition based on nation, religion, sect, race, ethnicity, or gender, which have resulted in anti-immigrant populism, the upsurge of politicized Islam, the fractious “identity liberalism” of college campuses, and the emergence of white nationalism. Populist nationalism, said to be rooted in economic motivation, actually springs from the demand for recognition and therefore cannot simply be satisfied by economic means. The demand for identity cannot be transcended; we must begin to shape identity in a way that supports rather than undermines democracy.
An extract from Identity: A Better Theory of the Human Soul
Sometime in the middle of the second decade of the twenty-first century, world politics changed dramatically. The period from the early 1970s through the mid-2000s witnessed what Samuel Huntington labeled the “third wave” of democratization as the number of countries that could be classified as electoral democracies increased from about 35 to more than 110. In this period, liberal democracy became the default form of government for much of the world, at least in aspiration if not in practice.
BROWSE SELECTED VIDEOS
Stanford "Identity" launch, Francis Fukuyama in conversation with Michael McFaul
Francis Fukuyama: National Identity vs. Identity Politics
Democracy's Crisis of Identity
National Identity
Populism
Francis Fukuyama: Identity Politics, July 2011
READ THE REVIEWS
What Is Identity?
Anand Giridharadas, New York Times: A Japanese-American political scientist and a Ghanaian-British-American philosopher walk into a bar where a brawl over identity is underway. “Stop fighting!” the philosopher cries. “The identities you’re fighting for are lies.” The political scientist steps forward. “They’re not lies,” he says. “They’re just the wrong identities to be fighting for!”
Francis Fukuyama and Kwame Anthony Appiah take on identity politics
The Economist: One of the most remarkable recent developments in Anglo-American politics is the reification of the white working class. Google Trends, a website that tracks how often particular words or phrases are typed into the search engine, shows a huge spike in interest in that group when Donald Trump won the presidential election in 2016. Interest has never quite subsided since.
What Follows the End of History? Identity Politics
Evan Goldstein, The Chronicle: Francis Fukuyama is tired of talking about the end of history. Thirty years ago, he published a wonky essay in a little-read policy journal and became an overnight intellectual sensation. His argument, that the triumph of Western-style liberal democracy marked "the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution," remains an iconic declaration of the post-Cold War world. He’s been defending it ever since.
FOLLOW THE IDENTITY BOOK TOUR
Identity U.S. book tour
CHICAGO
Monday, September 10
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM
CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS
Two Prudential Plaza
180 N. Stetson Avenue
Chicago, IL 60601
NEW YORK CITY
Tuesday, September 11
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
THE TRUSTEES OF COMMON GOOD
COVINGTON & BURLING LLP
620 8TH AVE, 43RD FLOOR
NEW YORK, NY 10018
Thursday, September 13
8:00 AM to 9:15 AM
CARNEGIE COUNCIL FOR ETHICS IN INTERNATIONAL
170 East 64th St.
New York, NY 10065
PHILADELPHIA
Friday, September 14
12:15 - 1:15 PM
FOREIGN POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
“DEMOCRACY IN TROUBLE”
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Perry World House, World Forum
WASHINGTON, DC
Tuesday, September 18
12:30 PM to 2:00 PM
Johns Hopkins University
Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Kenney Auditorium
1717 Massachusetts Ave NW, Room 728
Washington, DC 20036
Tuesday, September 18
4:00 PM to 5:30 PM
CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE
1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20036
Wednesday, September 19
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
POLITICS & PROSE
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20008
PALO ALTO, CA
Tuesday, September 25
7:30 PM to 9:00 PM
KEPLER'S BOOKS / PENINSULA ARTS & LETTERS
1010 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA 94025
STANFORD, CA
Thursday, September 27
4:00 to 7:30 PM
Paul Brest Hall East, Munger Building 4
Stanford, CA 94305-6055
SAN FRANCISCO
Thursday, October 4
6:30 PM to 7:30 PM
COMMONWEALTH CLUB OF CALIFORNIA
110 Embarcadero
Commonwealth Club - 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA
AUSTIN
Sunday, October 28
TEXAS BOOK FESTIVAL
610 Brazos Street
Suite 200
Austin, TX 78701
Time and location TBD
MILL VALLEY, CA
Tuesday, October 30
7:45 PM to 9:00 PM
COMMONWEALTH CLUB OF CALIFORNIA
1 West Blithedale Ave
Outdoor Art Club
Mill Valley, CA
CHICAGO – Tentative
Saturday, November 3
4:30 pm
CHICAGO HUMANITIES FESTIVAL
Address to come
Hyde Park, IL
SEATTLE
Wednesday, November 14
7:30 PM to 9:00 PM
TOWN HALL SEATTLE
1119 8th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
PORTLAND, tentative December 11
LA JOLLA, CA
Wednesday, December 19
Time: TBD
1119 8th Avenue
SAN DIEGO CENTER FOR JEWISH CULTURE
4126 Executive Drive
La Jolla, CA 92037
CONTACT US
Media contacts: Djurdja Padejski: djurdjap@stanford.edu, Katherine Welsh: kwelsh@stanford.edu
Stanford Identity Launch Photo Gallery
Stanford Identity Launch Photo Gallery
