The Politics and Ethics of Identity; In Search of Ourselves

New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Near fine/near fine. Hardcover : pp. [vi] xi [xii] 431 [434] : black covered cloth boards : gilt lettering to spine : dust jacket image, the ''Queen of the Night'' 1900-1750 BC.

Head and tail of spine gently pushed; jacket edge a little curled. "We are multiple, fragmented, and changing selves who, nevertheless, believe we have unique and consistent identities. What accounts for this illusion? Why has the problem of identity become so central in post-war scholarship, fiction, and the media? Following Hegel, Richard Ned Lebow contends that the defining psychological feature of modernity is the tension between our reflexive and social selves. To address this problem Westerners have developed four generic strategies of identity construction that are associated with four distinct political orientations. Lebow develops his arguments through comparative analysis of ancient and modern literary, philosophical, religious, and musical texts. He asks how we might come to terms with the fragmented and illusionary nature of our identities and explores some political and ethical implications of doing so." - Publisher.

Winner of the 2013 Alexander George Book Award, International Society of Political Psychology.