Paul Gilbert considers the political functions of identity in his new book, as reviewed by Daniel Falkiner.

Cultural Identity and Political Ethics. By Paul Gilbert. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. September 2010.

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The problem of identity politics is not a new one, and Paul Gilbert’s book is not an overly original or outstanding contribution to the debate that has formed around it. Nevertheless, the book largely delivers on what it promises: powerful and sustained blows against the argument that political recognition or accommodation should be given to specific groups on account of ‘shared values’ or ‘distinct cultural identities.’

Gilbert’s point of departure is an investigation of the roots of the idea of cultural identity. He locates this generally, and perhaps misleadingly, in German Romanticism, writing that it is largely to the ancient Greeks that we owe the idea of national character. The specific focus on the role of Herder in reconstructing this idea from the Greek ‘politics of difference’ in this regard is not completely accurate, as Gilbert’s detailed consideration of other writers such as Herbert Spencer, Henry Sidgwick, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Ernest Renan and Otto Bauer proves; what was peculiar to German Romanticism is the concept of Weltanschauung (world-view), but this is not dealt with by Gilbert in any explicit substance. Nonetheless, the author’s narrative of the post-WWI turn against the idea of national character being reversed by more recent philosophers such as Isaiah Berlin and Charles Taylor is convincing and sets the scene for Gilbert’s own arguments.

According to Gilbert, recent accounts of cultural identity emphasise that this identity is shared by many people and that it runs deep. Gilbert states that a deep identity in this regard is a ‘psychological characteristic of individuals who fall under the classification which explains much of their behaviour, especially those bits of it which distinguish them from those who do not fall under the same classification’. Gilbert does not attempt to analyse the various accounts of deep cultural identity which purport to account for full definitions of personal identity, since he himself confesses that he is ‘mystified’ by such metaphysical stories. Instead, he argues that the cultural content that identities hold (e.g. values, history, language, art, experience) is determined purely by political considerations and that ‘these are those that weigh with prospective group members’.

Gilbert goes on to create a loose typology of identities, including ‘identity as standing’, which seeks a place among one’s own and other cultural groups; ‘identity as centre’, which is to find stable guiding principles for one’s life and action; ‘identity as face’, which requires differentiation from others; ‘identity as affiliation’, which seeks sameness with others; and several others. All of these types of identity, Gilbert says, are motivated by some sort of fear or lack; to create an ideal type is look for the common reactions people have to menacing situations. In other words, identity is contingent upon the circumstances in which people find themselves, and does not hinge upon innate categories that are immutable, and it is usually under unfavourable or insecure conditions that the firmest identities are formed.

The book then continues with an examination of the embodiment of identity, engaging primarily with examples involving Europe’s Muslim community. The arguments in this chapter, while engaging, do not hold as much force as other ones and could have been more thoroughly pursued. The following chapters, which deal with subjectivity, art and the political functions of identity, are well-structured, intelligently argued and convincing. What remains unsatisfactory, however, is Gilbert’s treatment of political ethics, which despite appearing in the book’s title and in that of the final chapter receives negligible attention. A pragmatist ethics seems to be hinted at but Gilbert’s final stance on cultural identity and political ethics remains entirely unclear. This is perhaps the largest and most significant flaw in the work as a whole.

Cultural Identity and Political Ethics is written simply but not without elegance, and it is modest in its aims and honest in its intentions. The arguments it makes are strong and relevant to an increasingly globalised and multicultural world; policy makers should take good stock of this book.

Daniel Falkiner is a PhD candidate in International Relations at LSE.