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What is the connection between inclusion, exclusion and identity?
This book argues that the politics of inclusion and identity should be viewed as struggles over the representations of the identities involved. The argument is developed through careful analysis of cases from the last four decades of British multiculturalism, including public debates about the role of religion in British society, Gordon Brown's and David Cameron's different versions of Britishness, legal cases about religious symbols and clothing in schools, and a novel by Nick Hornby.
The author engages with a range of debates and themes including Britishness, race, the nature and role of Islam in British society, homelessness and social justice, and adopts a fresh, post-structuralist approach to the theoretical and practical issues surrounding inclusion, exclusion and identity.
Lasse Thomassen is Senior Lecturer in the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary, University of London.
List of contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Identity, Inclusion and Representation
- Hegemony, Representation and Britishness
- Subjects of Equality
- (Not) Just a Piece of Cloth: Recognition and Representation
- Tolerance: Circles of Inclusion and Exclusion
- Hospitality beyond Good and Bad
Conclusion: Multiculturalism, Britishness and Muscular Liberalism
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Lasse Thomassen is Senior Lecturer in the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of Deconstructing Habermas (Routledge, 2007) and Habermas: A Guide for the Perplexed (Continuum, 2010), and the co-editor of Radical Democracy: Politics between Abundance and Lack (Manchester University Press, 2005) and the editor of The Derrida-Habermas Reader (Edinburgh University Press, 2006). Currently he is working on the concept of representation and new forms of radical politics.
Summary
Lasse Thomassen argues that the politics of inclusion and identity should be viewed as struggles over how these identities are represented. He centres this argument through careful analysis of cases from the last four decades of British multiculturalism.
