My junior from CET, Sabareesh Pillai writes a short piece in the Economic and Political Weekly on Identity and Class question being widely debated currently in the intellectual circles in Kerala. Sabareesh writes -
Similarly, gender-based identity politics will only intensify what sociologist Ulrich Beck calls the “battle between sexes” and weaken institutions such as the family. The radical feminist demand for strong gender-based identities, the abolition of the family and mothering role can destroy social harmony. Marxist feminists have taken a more pragmatic viewpoint calling for restructuring the family, ending domestic slavery and the collective methods of child-rearing and household maintenance. Thus, class can be effectively used as an instrument for the integration of excluded sections in society. Identity politics, on the other hand, can be extremely divisive. (letter here)
Like the caste census, this is an issue that confuses me every time I talk about it. My friend Sreeram and I were recently talking about this, and his point was that social movements or reservations to bring people of a particular identity into a class fold is fine, but within the class fold there should be no identities. Which made sense, as in class is not an umbrella for differing identities but a monolith and a melting pot. The way I understood is that if graduate students is a class, movements or help to get the weaker sections of society into that class is acceptable while identities like gender, caste, race, color, or nationality will not be recognized within the class. I might be completely off here. What do you think?
