Solidarity of Strangers: Feminism after Identity Politics

by Jodi Dean

Solidarity of Strangers is a crucial intervention in feminist, multicultural, and legal debates that will ignite a rethinking of the meaning of difference, community, and participatory democracy. Arguing for a solidarity rooted in a respect for difference, Dean offers a broad vision of the shape of postmodern democracies that moves beyond the limitations and dangers of identity politics.

228 pages, Paperback

First published February 5, 1996

About the author

Jodi Dean teaches political and media theory in Geneva, New York. She has written or edited eleven books, including The Communist Horizon and Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies.

Reviews

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

"our identities are not fixed and given. They are the products of constructs and
relationships that themselves must be questioned. Indeed, when we fail to question
them, we recreate precisely those differences that have subordinated us, presuming that
they are somehow natural to and given by the world."

[Kai · Rating 3 out of 5]

read with a student for an independent study on transnational feminist climate activism. i really liked this book! i wish it was in print and affordable as i prefer the page to the screen, but thankfully it is available free online via ucpress' website. it is so clear and sharp, and dean has really changed how i think about solidarity here! i saw this book cited in the intro to Mohanty's Feminism Without Borders, and had no idea it existed (having been more familiar with Dean's more recent avowedly communist works - knowing what we know now, it is a bit odd to encounter the conversations with Rorty and Habermas). I think Dean cuts through the dense philosophical debates about identity and representation in a way that is truly helpful for young scholars, especially those interested in trying to build a universalizing feminist political struggle.