Identity Politics and the Dominant Group

I wrote a couple days ago about identity politics. Here is part 2 of the essay. When the dominant group (straight white males are most dominant) look out for their own interests, it is never called identity politics. That term is reserved for when a minority group does it. The dominant group also refers to it as single-issue politics, as in "Why can't you set your single issue aside for the greater good?" We'll get back to you when the "greater good" is achieved. That single issue is not one that benefits the dominant group, which means the minority group is being asked to give up its identity as the "other."

While Democrats play identity politics (how should a black woman prioritize her identities?) in the first few primaries, eventually they need to appeal to the working class whites in order to beat the GOP. So what's important to blacks this year? Home foreclosures, bad economy, fewer dollars available for college for their kids, the general fragility of their status as middle-class. About the same as the issues of the working class whites. But it is not identity politics when someone asks, "So who should the white guys vote for?"

A thought not in this posting: While a lot of black issues are also issues of the working class whites, the biggest gay issue -- relationship security -- isn't. Alas, gays have been known to play the dominant role with transgenders in the minority role, as in the ENDA fiasco a few months ago.