Identity: A Reader(Published in Association with The Open University)

Identity provides an essential resource of key statements drawn from cultural studies, sociology, and psychoanalytic theory, and includes three editorial essays, which place the readings in their theoretical and historical context. Divided into three parts: Language, Ideology and Discourse; Psychoanalysis and Psycho-Social Relations; and Identity, Sociology and History, this book invites readers to compare and contrast cultural studies approaches with psychoanalytic and historical and sociological accounts of identity formation. The Identity Reader will be an essential sourcebook for students of cultural studies, gender studies, social psychology, and sociology. The key statements are from the work of: Louis Althusser, Jessica Benjamin, Emile Benveniste, Homi K Bhabha, Pierre Bourdieu, Judith Butler, Ian Craib, Jacques D[ac]errida, Norbert Elias, Frantz Fanon, Michel Foucault, Anthony Giddens, Stuart Hall, Pierre Hadot, Melanie Klein, Jacques Lacan, Christopher Lasch, Isabel Menzies, Lyth, T H Marshall, Marcel Mauss, Am[gr]elie Okensberg Rorty, Jacqueline Rose, Nikolas Rose, Michael Rustin, Kaja Silverman, Max Weber, D W Winnicott

Table of Contents:
General Introduction - Paul du Gay, Jessica Evans and Peter Redman PART ONE: THE SUBJECT OF LANGUAGE, IDEOLOGY AND DISCOURSE Introduction - Peter Redman Who Needs `Identity′? - Stuart Hall Ideology Interpellates Individuals as Subjects - Louis Althusser Subjectivity in Language - Emile Benveniste The Mirror Stage - Jacques Lacan Feminine Sexuality - Jacqueline Rose Revolution in Poetic Language - Julia Kristeva Suture - Kaja Silverman The Cinematic Model Diff[ac]erance - Jacques Derrida Interrogating Identity - Homi K Bhabha The Post Colonial Prerogative Domain - Michel Foucault Critically Queer - Judith Butler PART TWO: PSYCHOANALYSIS AND PSYCHOSOCIAL RELATIONS Introduction - Jessica Evans Notes on Some Schizoid Mechanisms - Melanie Klein Mirror-Role of Mother and Family in Child Development - D W Winnicott Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena - D W Winnicott Social Systems as a Defense against Anxiety - Isabel Menzies Lyth Psychoanalysis, Racism and Anti-Racism - Michael Rustin The Negro and Psychopathology - Frantz Fanon The Narcissistic Personality of Our Time - Christopher Lasch The Oedipal Riddle - Jessica Benjamin The Trajectory of the Self - Anthony Giddens What′s Happening to Mourning? - Ian Craib PART THREE: IDENTITY/SOCIOLOGY/HISTORY Introduction - Paul du Gay Homo Clausus and the Civilizing Process - Norbert Elias The Biographical Illusion - Pierre Bourdieu A Note on `Status′ - T H Marshall Identity, Genealogies, History - Nikolas Rose A Category of the Human Mind - Marcel Mauss The Notion of ′Person′; The Notion of ′Self′ The Profession and Vocation of Politics - Max Weber Introduction to `The Use of Pleasure′ - Michel Foucault Reflections on the Idea of the `Cultivation of the Self′ - Pierre Hadot Persons and Personae - Am[gr]elie Okensberg Rorty

About the Author :
Paul du Gay is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at The Open University Jessica Evans is Senior Lecturer in Cultural & Media Studies at the Open University.  Peter Redman has been teaching social science at The Open University for the last 25 years. During this time he has worked closely with numerous students helping them reflect on and improve their writing skills. He is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology.

Review :
`This ability to raise so many interesting themes and questions is precisely one of the strengths of this Reader. Another is a choice of contributions based on an historical perspective that enables us to trace some of the main threads in the debate over identity in a variety of disciplines in the last fifty years. In conclusion: an invaluable tool for scholars in the field′ - Discourse & Society " ‘Identity’ is one of the most overused but least considered terms in the lexicon of the contemporary humanities and social sciences. This volume brings together many of the key texts that will contribute to a more thoughtful understanding of the many issues involved in this elusive and deceptively difficult concept. The editors are not merely innocent anthologisers, however. They bring a sharp critical eye and a polemical editorial line to their task."