Routledge Handbook of Identity Studies

The Routledge Handbook of Identity Studies offers an exceptionally clear overview of the analysis of identity in the social sciences, and in so doing seeks to develop a new agenda for identity-studies in the twenty-first century.

The key theories of identity, ranging from classical accounts to postmodern, psychoanalytic and feminist approaches, are drawn together and critically appraised, and there are substantive sections looking at racial, ethnic, gendered, queer, consumerist, virtual and global identities.

The Handbook also makes an essential contribution to the debate now opening up over identity-politics and its cultural consequences. From anti-globalization protestors to new ecological warriors, from devotees of therapy culture to defenders of international human rights: the culture of identity-politics is fast redefining the public political sphere. What future for politics is there after the turn to identity?

Throughout there is a strong emphasis on interdisciplinarity with essays covering sociology, psychology, politics, cultural studies and history. The Handbook’s clear and direct style will appeal to a wide undergraduate audience in the social sciences and humanities.

Anthony Elliott is Professor of Sociology, Flinders University, Australia; Visiting Research Professor at the Open University, UK and Visiting Professor at University College Dublin, Ireland. A specialist in the field of identity studies, Professor Elliott’s related books include Subject to Ourselves, 2e (2004), Social Theory Since Freud (2004), The New Individualism (2005, with Charles Lemert), Concepts of the Self, 2e (2007), Making The Cut: How Cosmetic Surgery is Transforming Our Lives (2008), Identity in Question (2008, with Paul du Gay) and Mobile Lives (2010, with John Urry).