1001GIR Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Ethnic Nationalism, Barcelona Metro Line 9, Mainline Protestant
4 May 2018
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L9. Religion, Culture and Identity Politics
What is Identity Politics?
• An orientation whereby politics is no longer based on economically determined social divisions
(political ideology), but on assertions of cultural identity
• Seeks to challenge and overthrow oppression by re-positioning a group's identity through a
process of socio-cultural assertion
• About asserting a political identity that is thought of as marginalised and oppressed, by
respecting it and celebrating it in the broader society
• Examples
o Second-wave feminism
o Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights
o Ethnic nationalism
o Recognition of indigenous peoples or 'first nations'
o Multiculturalism and religious fundamentalism
Modernisation and Secularisation
• It was believed that modernisation, and a scientific worldview, necessarily led to a decline in
religion, both in society and in the minds of individuals
o The secularisation thesis
• Secularisation embodied what Max Weber, in the early 20th century, called 'disenchantment'
o A progressive, linear, historical process toward greater rationality
• This has been variously modified to refer to church-state separation, or the relegation of
religion from the public to the private sphere
o The 'privatisation' of religion
• Idea of secularism is relatively new, historically
• For most of history, 'religion' was an unquestioned and integral part of one's culture or way of
life
o Not something encountered independently or considered critically
• The fact that there is something called 'religion', abstracted from its socio-cultural context, to
a discrete set of 'beliefs' or 'faith', is the product of a particular configuration of power
o That of the modern, liberal state as it developed in the West from its Christian heritage
• Secularism does not refer to a non-religious society
o Secularism is mutually dependent on religion
• The purpose of secularism is to ensure:
o The socio-political order is free from institutionalised religious domination or influence
(separation of 'church' and 'state') so that:
• There is freedom of religion
• Freedom to exit a religion or change one's religion
• Inter-religious equality
• Socio-political and legal equality between religious believers and non-religious
citizens
o This explains why the United States, for example, is a secular state that has high levels of
religiosity
Variation in Secular States
State (Public)
Civil Society (Private)
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Document Summary
What is identity politics: an orientation whereby politics is no longer based on economically determined social divisions (political ideology), but on assertions of cultural identity. It was believed that modernisation, and a scientific worldview, necessarily led to a decline in religion, both in society and in the minds of individuals: the secularisation thesis. Freedom to exit a religion or change one"s religion. Socio-political and legal equality between religious believers and non-religious citizens: this explains why the united states, for example, is a secular state that has high levels of religiosity. Britain: weak established church (anglican), religion is weak, but churches can be but has a formal political role and voice a source of political criticism and action. States: no established church (passively, religion is strong, politically active secular) and mobilised. France: actively secular (excludes religion, weak, rare for churches to engage in from public sphere) politicised actions.
