ABSTRACT

In this comprehensive, accessible handbook, acclaimed social theorist Anthony Elliott brings together internationally distinguished and emergent scholars in the social sciences and humanities to review the major theoretical traditions, trends and trajectories in the hugely popular field of identity studies.

 The Routledge Handbook of Identity Studies set new standards for reference works when first published, such was the far-reaching sweep of topics discussed – including identity studies reconfigured by feminism, post-structuralism and postmodernism, individualization theories, media and cultural studies, race and ethnicity, consumerism, environmentalism, post-colonialism, globalization and many more.

This second edition of the handbook contains new contributions, including an updated general introduction from Anthony Elliott on the fast-changing conditions and contours of identity transformations in the global age. There are also new chapters on the emergence of posthuman identities - with specific focus on the global consequences of biotechnology, biomedicine, robotics and artificial intelligence for the analysis of identity - and on identity mobilities.

The handbook's clear and accessible format will appeal to a wide undergraduate audience, as well as researchers and teachers, in the social sciences and humanities.

part I|2 pages

Theories of identity

chapter 1|15 pages

The rise of identity studies

An outline of some theoretical accounts

chapter 2|28 pages

A history of identity

The riddle at the heart of the mystery of life

chapter 3|19 pages

Feminism and identity

chapter 4|19 pages

Identity after psychoanalysis 1

chapter 5|16 pages

Foucauldian approaches to the self

chapter 6|18 pages

The fragmentation of identity

Post-structuralist and postmodern theories

chapter 7|12 pages

Reflexive identities

chapter 8|17 pages

Individualization

part II|2 pages

The analysis of identity

chapter 10|16 pages

Identity, race and ethnicity

chapter 11|17 pages

Gendered identities

chapter 12|17 pages

Media and identity

chapter 13|18 pages

Virtual identities

From decentered to distributed selves

chapter 14|19 pages

Consumer identities

chapter 17|14 pages

Posthuman identities

part III|2 pages

Identity-politics and its consequences

chapter 18|17 pages

Sexual identity-politics

Activism from gay to queer and beyond

chapter 21|22 pages

The politics of Islamic identities

chapter 22|19 pages

Indigenous identities

From colonialism to post-colonialism

chapter 23|13 pages

Globalizing collective identities

From the global justice movement to the ‘Global Wave’