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i,ilillL Debot ing ident i ty

Identitiesare con('cptuallvn-rore- ornplex than thev mav at first appear.From onc pointof view, hey deline w.ho omehodS'isn tcrms ol a trait, rvhich rnight bc anvthing rom, lirrinstance, physical eaturc of'thc bocly,a bcliel, a gencalogyor a cultural prcfercncc. Ineffect hey idcntifv by placing ndivicluals nto groups w'ho sharc hat tr.rit. And this hasaconsequencc:t mcans hat dentitv is r'ron at the pricc of rcduc;ing nclividuality.Mr,iclen-tity asa man, for instancr, both dclines nre anrl unps mc uith 50 pcr ccnt (roughlv) ofthe population, radicallv rcducing nl' particularity. Furtherrnorc thc traits chosen tc-rascribe dentity to an individual arc ahvavs ontingent, sincc rvhatclcr trait is choscn oIix identitv. another one coulcl havc bcen ch osen, evcn if it seerns natural' to idcntil'r'peoplebv. or instancc, hcir gcnder (and t seerns s { all kno*'n socictiesdo in thct dcn-tify peoplebv gendcr). Identitics, hen, are not given n tcrms of w-hatndivi

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I D E N T I T YHout ' rc r th i s s s t i l la i t t l c too s i rnp lc . nr l i r r l u ; r l slon ' t har-c s inq lc ascrl >;l tart i l l tfJils (ski ; tcolour, socio-cconontic tatus,gcn

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rl li il rl rI D E N T I T Ybcing as such univcrsal hurnanncss. hc Enl ightcnrncnt, as hc historical nro'rcn1thal c lerprivetlc l igion ancl racl i t ionol thcir sor: i .r l nd pol i t icalauthori tr ' ,harl rol i .al l r.(s o t *as argucdl r 'onsol i c la tc r lhc normat i r i tv of thc nhi t t 'n ra lc bv r l c la i r l t * i t i rGousnessrais ing', that is th c cri t iquc ol ncgati lcstercotvpersnd untl ' thav-c1make a hard c ' ler, is ione-tu'ccnhcsc al tcrnativcs. he u'i l l . i rrc l ncrgv ol 'rnarginal isct lgroups ha s been crucial to identi tv pol i t ic ,sbut, n.ncthclcss, such pol i t i , s ocrcurreunhcn i t dic lbccause f larger orccs and Opcninqs,vi th th c balancc ctu't-cn'push'and'puII ' f 'actors i l l i ' r ing in di f l i ' rent

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I D E N T I T YIr l cnt i t r 'po l i t i cs t 'n

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1I D E N T I T Y

Furthcrmorc, to t ri t ique hvbridi tv as nsul l lc ientlvcl isengage