Watch out, it’s a trap!
In 2021, my family moved to Austin, the most liberal city in the state of Texas. I love it here. I love the diversity and honestly have no intention of leaving this city as long as I live in Texas. I laugh when my conservative family worries about the influence this city has on us. One friend warned us of even driving through the city. I would not call myself a liberal, but also would not take the conservative label – and I am content with being label-less, since the label does not define me and is not my identity.
Since moving to Austin, I have also become keenly aware of some problems with political ideology, both from the left (especially amongst young people) and the right.
One of my daughters was 13 at the time of our move, and she quickly became a social justice warrior upon moving into town. This excited me and I too felt a wave of enthusiasm towards fighting injustice in our society. Causes to fight for were typical: racism, gender inequality, etc. But over time, I came to see a level of hatred, self righteousness, intolerance, and hypocrisy in the movement that felt confusing. In what seemed like all good causes, I could not make sense of why the very intolerance that was opposed by the movement, was matched with a level of intolerance from the movement.
Yascha Mounk, a German-born political scientist, brings understanding to this phenomenon through his book, The Identity Trap.[1] Mounk’s mother is a Jewish socialist, with much of her family being killed in the Holocaust. He describes growing up like being a stranger in Germany, despite being born there, and German being his first language. [2] His mixed identity in his home country has given him a unique perspective to study identity in social justice issues in America.
The major theme of the Identity Trap is what he calls the Identity Synthesis, which is the societal push for individuals to reduce themselves to their particular intersection of identities, be it racial, social, religious, etc. Mounk explains that the identity synthesis has a particular lure for those who are appalled by injustice, oppression, and discrimination. There is a certain promise that these identities will save humanity from injustice. But Mounk predicts that while this ideology is well intentioned, the response is counterproductive, inspiring more racism and hatred, and is a threat to democratic societies.
This happens because when people take on a label or identity, they are also subconsciously forced to take on the norms, descriptions, beliefs, etc. associated with those labels. As our society is swept up in a social justice movement, it is becoming increasingly difficult to be what Edwin Friedman describes as a well-differentiated leader [3]. To stand alone in a belief is often not tolerated, and one can be canceled or labeled a racist.
As further proof of the identity synthesis, in an article Why we should worry about progressive AI, Mounk shows how our progressive AI companies promote identity synthesis through the development of AI. When using Google Gemini, prompts including race will work effectively when it’s non-white, “But when users asked the bot to ‘create an image of an English king’, the top results included a woman and a black man. Requests for pictures of a pope returned renderings of nuns holding the papal ferula.”
But Mounk reminds us that not all is lost. While we do not want to minimize the current injustices still active today, we also should celebrate the incredible progress in the last 50 years. For example, “A large African American middle class has come into existence. Today, the median Black American has a white collar job, lives in a reasonably affluent suburb, and is doing significantly better than his or her parents. As a result, African Americans are much more upbeat about their future prospects than you might expect by listening to adherents of the identity synthesis”. [5]
So what does this mean for me and what am I going to do about it?
I am grateful that my daughter and I are no longer in the identity traps that we were in a few years ago. We can embrace social justice and diversity, but also resist the temptation to make it our identities and turn to hatred and intolerance as a result. Today, I will ponder other ways in which I have fallen into the identity trap and remind myself of my identity that is found only in Christ.
In what ways are you susceptible to the identity trap?
References
[1] Mounk, Yascha. 2023. The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time. New York NY: Penguin Press.
[2] Mounk, Yascha. 2014. Stranger in My Own Country: A Jewish Family in Modern Germany. First edition. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
[3] Friedman, Edwin H., Margaret M. Treadwell, and Edward W. Beal. 2017. A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix. 10th anniversary revised edition. New York: Church Publishing.
[4] Yascha Mounk. 2024. “Why We Should Worry about Progressive AI.” The Spectator. February 28, 2024. https://www.spectator.co.uk/writer/yascha-mounk/.
[5] Mounk, Yascha. 2023. The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time, 250.
About the Author
Christy Liner
17 responses to “Watch out, it’s a trap!”
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Thank you for sharing your reflections on navigating political ideology and social justice movements, particularly in the context of your family’s move to Austin. Your honesty about grappling with the complexities of these issues and recognising the potential pitfalls of intolerance and hypocrisy within movements aimed at combating injustice is thought-provoking. Congratulations on being able to process this with your daughter. I love this line, ” I am grateful that my daughter and I are no longer in the identity traps that we were in a few years ago.” Amazing.
Considering your insights, I’m curious about how you navigate discussions around identity and social justice within your community in Austin. How do you foster open dialogue and understanding while also maintaining a sense of authenticity and integrity in your beliefs?
Hi Glyn, thanks for your comments. It’s so tricky to navigate these conversations. I think when we can listen well, people are generally more apt to hear differing views as well. In a sense, the identity synthesis is a threshold concept – it’s difficult to understand. But once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
Hi Christy,
I enjoyed your post. I spent about 11 years living in Austin, which is where I began my work of conscience and career of serving others. In a largely transient community (college students move in/out) and considering the average age of the population is one of personal discovery (early 20s), how would you encourage others to self-assess and to be courageous to expand into different circles for more exposure?
Although, Austin is an island unto itself….Keep Austin Weird.
Hi Jennifer, I think the encouragement is the same for the left as it is the right – get to know someone with differing views, and see them as a real human being. Isn’t it so easy to miss out on each other’s humanity?
Wow great post Christy! I especially appreciate this insight:
“As our society is swept up in a social justice movement, it is becoming increasingly difficult to be what Edwin Friedman describes as a well-differentiated leader. To stand alone in a belief is often not tolerated, and one can be canceled or labeled a racist.”
I feel this pressure in a ‘progessive’ university town as a ‘conservative’ pastor (though I think those labels are relative to which group I’m in at the time lol).
I’ve been thinking about this book as we watched Super Tuesday unfold and the presidential election that seems to be forthcoming between Trump and Biden.
How do we equip the teenagers and youth in our lives to center on our beliefs in a polarized world? Asking for a friend…
Christy, it sounds like Austin would be a great place to live. It is curious how both “left” and “right” can both be angry, judgemental and non-inclusive. I have resisted identifying with these politically motivated groups as well.
How do you think, not identifying with either group impacts your ability to actually connect with members in each one?
Hi Graham, I hope you’ll come visit some time. I’d love to take you out to dinner with my family.
Have you ever noticed that it’s easy to bond with someone over something that makes us angry? But that bond is so shallow that it can only withstand our similarities, but can’t withstand our differences.
A much stronger bond is when we see each other as authentic and vulnerable people, rather than just a collection of shared outrage.
Christy,
Bless you for living in Texas, I’ve been there a few times but love my Northeast Ohio climate too much. One of the exercises we have our 2nd year social work students to is to identify all the social groups/cultures they belong to, they use an Acronym ADDRESSING created by Pamela Hays – Age, Developmental Disability, (acquired) Disability, Religion, Ethnicity/Race SES, Sexuality, Indigenous Group member, Nationality, and Gender. We also include First Language and where they grew up (Urban, Suburban or Rural). Student then fill out a pie chart indicating how much time they spend each day reflecting on each aspect of their identity. We do this to allow students to realize all the different aspects that make up their identity, that they do not have a single identity and neither does anyone else, yet each of these identities impacts how they view and interact in the world. If you were to do this activity, I am wondering what aspect of your identity would you reflect upon the most in a given day and why?
Christy, thanks for this! My family is from Austin, and I spent my summers with my uncles and aunts in the 78723. I love Austin. I appreciate how you were able not to identify through your own self-identification. Answering your question, avoiding the trap can be easy, but staying in the trap and not seeing with an open lens could be damaging. You also touched upon the cancel culture. Any thoughts on how to achieve Mounks lofty goal without being canceled for self identifying?
Hi Daren – let me know the next time you’re in Austin – I’d love to take you out to dinner with my family.
It’s tricky to be a well differentiated leader without getting cancelled by a large group. With an individual or small groups, it’s much easier to have conversations and find mutual understanding, but with a large group, there isn’t space to clear up misunderstandings. Let me know if you have any tips!
Hi Christy,
Thank you for your post. I know firsthand that Austin has amazing tacos -WOW!!
Your post reminded me of a time when Nancy and I were looking at moving to a different city that was very diverse (a very important need for us). When we were sharing that with an African-American friend of ours, he said, “I am glad that you will get to experience middle-class blacks that are in that area”. I had never thought about that fact, but there was truth to it. It is one of the reasons I love living in DC, as it seems that every table in a restaurant has a different color of people, and everyone just does life together, and it’s beautiful.
I am happy your daughter is interested in Social Justice. What would you share with her from this book if you haven’t already?
Christy,
I love how you have become aware of your commitment to recognize your own views while setting your boundaries. This has become ever so necessary for me as I navigate life in the highly political city of Washington DC.
In answer to your final question, I am only susceptible to the identity trap because others choose to label me as such, but when I look in the mirror and make a laundry list of my many intersections of identities, I see myself as just me living in a broken world.
Does this book and Mounk’s ideology, in any way, shed light for you with your NPO research?
Christy, great post and great question. I do, indeed, find myself susceptible to the identity trap sometimes. These days it’s because I don’t have – in my daily or even weekly life – anyone who thinks remotely like I do, spiritually. I think of myself as an outlier, and it’s lonely.
That makes the idea of labels – and people who share those labels – attractive.
So as I took my quiet time walk in the woods along the lake this morning, I reminded myself – with the Spirit’s guidance, I am sure – that my identity is always and only in Christ, as a beloved daughter of God my Father. I must trust that he will take care of the rest. (Some days trust is easy; others days… a bit less so.)
Christy, as many have said before me, this is a great post. I can relate with you in feeling confused at the level of hatred, self-righteousness, intolerance, and hypocrisy that surfaces in the name of a “good” cause. This is something I recognized within myself in my context in Africa. I came into the country desiring to be a justice fighter for those oppressed by the oppressor. I had to repent because those I called oppressors are working to bring good changes to their city. There is a lot of work to be done, but I have noticed an openness and a desire on the part of the supposed oppressors to form one united people. This has been encouraging.
What was the most appealing thing about the identity trap for you when you first moved to Austin? When did you realize it was a trap?
Hi Elysse,
When I first moved to Austin, it was from a very conservative city in Texas. Up to that point, I had only lived in conservative cities, and often felt like I didn’t fit in – mostly as a woman in leadership.
It felt liberating (at first) to break free from some of the oppressive ideologies. The grass is always greener on the other side…until you get there. Then you notice that it’s not as green as you thought.
Austin is a city of inclusivity and love (unless you are on the right – then it’s a city of hatred and intolerance). Isn’t it so ironic?
Great question, Christy. I am self-proclaimed rebel justice-fighter so I find myself fighting for the cause of the undefended. I can fall into the identity trap by forgetting to look at others through the lens of the Gospel.
I would be interested in hearing more how you respond to your conservative family’s concerns to Austin and your “label-less” perspective.
Christy, thank you for a thought-provoking post. I’m curious what ways your thoughts on Identity Trap intersect with your work in engaging different people groups and the translation work of which you are a part? Do you and your team encounter identity synthesis in other cultures outside the United States?