Identity politics is wrong – and bad for Tories, too.

Sep 6, 2017 by

by Alex Morton, Conservative Home:

Theresa May is returning to domestic politics. One of the key issues this autumn will be her handling of the ‘public sector race audit’ that she commissioned last year. A drive toward reducing discrimination is a positive. But the Conservatives will never win on identity politics – and further, identity politics is always and fundamentally opposed to genuine liberal and conservative principles.

Identity politics is inherently socialist

The gap between groups in areas such as mental health, income or employment is rarely as simple as racism, sexism or homophobia. This is not to deny that individual ‎acts of prejudice still take place, or that we should tolerate discrimination or prejudice against individuals. But the difference between groups is usually at least partly the result of the choices and actions of individuals within these groups as well.

Our media class often reports on differences as if they were automatically unfair. But consider a group I am a member of. While LGBT people do suffer from mental and sexual heal‎th problems and, sadly, do face stigma, they also (on average) have a more sexually active lifestyle and fewer long-term relationships – both of which then impact on these outcomes. Their health issues are a mix of social stigma and individual choices (and further, different groups such as lesbians, gay men, bisexual men and bisexual women face different issues).

The idea that all groups should have the same outcomes is just an update of the old socialist idea of equality of outcome – ignoring the choices that individuals make. It is saying that the Government needs to impose a new order in place of the outcomes of individual choices.

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