The Sociology of Identity: The Dialectics of Consciousness, Deconstruction and Reconstruction

Author: Abdulghani Imad

Book review by: Abdulhakim Al Gazawi

Published by: Beirut: Center for Arab Unity Studies

Year of publication: 2019

Edition: second

Number of pages: 304

ISBN: 9789953828763

The fact the first edition of the book is out of stock and a second edition has been published reflects the importance of the topics discussed within it. The book tackles the problem of identity and different approaches used to explore it within critical sociology. This has become an academic and scientific specialization taught in several universities. The question of identity has a critical role to play in mapping definitions of human ontology. Questions of identity were the focus of philosophical deliberation before they were the focus of sociological research. This book focuses on ways to understand identity in various settings, especially in a modern globalized world that is increasingly undergoing fragmentation and varying speeds of development. There is an examination of how the duality of identity is manifested in many Third World countries and in the Arab world, with disastrous consequences. The book explores how the most important dynamic changes that have occurred in the definition of identity are represented by the reorganization of a system of priorities, at the level of sectarian and religious loyalties. Also, references to ethnic and nationalistic affiliations and the basic symbolic building blocks of the term “identity” are examined. This is made apparent in the analysis of the speech of activists from diverging cultures which undermines once stable beliefs, in ways unseen before, leading to unexpected outcomes.

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The Sociology of Identity: The Dialectics of Consciousness, Deconstruction and Reconstruction

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The Sociology of Identity: The Dialectics of Consciousness, Deconstruction and Reconstruction