Who Benefits From Identity Politics?
Politicians manipulate, but both racist and woke ideologues are psychologically motivated
Cui bono?
When something is happening and it is hard to figure out why, it is good to ask “who benefits?” Motivations drive behavior, after all. Dividing our country, and the world, by race or identity seems kinda dumb. So why do it?
Politicians
I’ll suggest that politicians benefit the most from identity politics. Nixon arguably re-invigorated racial animus with his Southern Strategy, directed against Blacks, and Bush Sr. got elected in party by demonizing Black folks again with his Willie Horton ad. But now the Democrats similarly demonize “Karens” and cast anyone who’s not woke as a “white supremacist.” Instead of Willie Horton, they push images of rural poor with Confederate flags. Curiously if you look at most pictures of January 6th, you won’t see a single confederate flag. As far as I can tell there were very few of them. But the image of this guy with that flag was all over media…
You can raise campaign funds and “turn out the base” by demonizing someone on the other side, so the parties do that a lot. It doesn’t much matter who is demonized, but race and rural/urban divide are already there and many “critical theory” oriented departments in universities have been softening the ground for decades, so identity politics has been a go-to combination. Critical theory (not just the “race” version) has a long history, starting with Marxist ideas and evolving to become a core tenet in many newer academic disciplines such as Black Studies, Whiteness Studies, Queer Studies and so on, as well as more traditional fields such as Sociology, English and others. (Critical theory is complex, but focuses on power and oppression, with the idea that objective knowledge does not exist, so the purpose of “critique” is to change the world, rather than attempt to explain it. This has resulted in a more confrontational, power-focused dynamic throughout much of academia, which is leeching out into mainstream society.)
Psychology
Then many people (who probably had a sort of “God-shaped hole in their hearts”) jumped on wokeness as a new religion. It provides all of: absolution, social standing, and a sense of quasi-divine purpose. Trifecta! So that’s a profound personal and psychological benefit.
These are typically elite, wealthy, white knowledge workers. Existential meaning and social standing matter more to wealthy people who’s material needs are met. For Republicans and rural racists, on the other hand, it’s more about fear of cultural extinction. So rural, white concerns are fear-based, and therefore even easier to manipulate, so the GOP does just that. Many Republicans think that Black people are “cutting ahead of them in line”: taking their jobs, threatening their physical safety, and probably their virginal daughters too. Ok, maybe they think Mexicans are coming for their daughters, but it is all of a piece.
Financial and professional
Finally, there’s Robin DiAngelo and other prominent CRT theorists. She means well, but she is also a white woman who is making money off the historical suffering of Black people. Her thesis is that white people cannot tolerate the truth about racism because they are fragile, and coined the (popular) term “white fragility” to describe how “most white people” are “ill-equipped … to confront racial tensions.” [White Fragility, p 110]
She gets to be holier than thou, preachy, and actively insulting while she does it, which is quite a trick. She is a living lesson on how a coastal, urban, wealthy, white person can claim moral superiority through hectoring rather than actually sacrifice or contribute. And that’s exactly what the “woke” readers do — why not? what’s the downside? Her book is not merely an academic treatise but (importantly) an instruction manual on how to feel better while also lording a false moral superiority over others.
She, along with Ibram X. Kendi, Nicole Hannah-Jones and a few others, do get money, tenure, and professional success from their writing and speaking, so there is some financial component as well for these practitioners of identity politics. But fundamentally, they actually mean well, and perhaps need this moral posturing to feel good about themselves. So we can suspect they are more sad than evil.
But not rich people
Curiously I don’t think promulgating racial division is a conspiracy being funded by rich people. Sure: DiAngelo and a few racist trolls on Fox do make real money. But for most them I think it’s about the clicks and the rush of fighting in a culture war (as I wrote on previously) not the money. All the identity-based divisiveness is probably bad for business, honestly, and business owners would rather people work happily in their companies, STFU, and buy more product.
