The Constitution of Identity: New Modalities of nationality, citizenship, belonging and being

Abstract

Drawing on the theories and insights of scholars working in cultural studies, feminist studies, sociology, anthropology, geography, political science, history and law, this literature grew out of the civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and gained momentum through the rise of new social movements and debates over multiculturalism in the 1980s and 1990s. This chapter highlights some of the socio‐legal scholarship engaged in the constitution of legal identities within state and non‐state contexts, and points to some of the emerging challenges and new directions scholarly conversations are moving in. How people conceptualize themselves is now widely acknowledged as not reducible to simplified and essentialized individual and group identities recognized in law through state policies and institutions. Despite scholarly critics, the idea of a social contract existing between governments and citizens has maintained popular legitimacy in most Western democracies, at least until recently.