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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.
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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!”
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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.
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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.
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FOLLOW THE IDENTITY BOOK TOUR

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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

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