Identity Capitalists: The Powerful Insiders Who Exploit Diversity to Maintain Inequality
Stanford University Press, 2021

Summary: In this groundbreaking book, Nancy Leong coins the term “identity capitalist” to label the powerful insiders who eke out social and economic value from people of color, women, LGBTQ people, the poor, and other out-groups. Leong deftly uncovers the rules that govern a system in which all Americans must survive: the identity marketplace. She contends that the national preoccupation with diversity has, counterintuitively, allowed identity capitalists to infiltrate the legal system, educational institutions, the workplace, and the media. Using examples from law to literature, from politics to pop culture, Leong takes readers on a journey through the hidden agendas and surprising incentives of various in-group actors. She also uncovers a dire dilemma for out-group members: Do they play along and let their identity be used by others, or do they protest and risk the wrath of the powerful? Arming readers with the tools to recognize and mitigate the harms of exploitation, Identity Capitalists reveals what happens when we prioritize diversity over equality.

Praise: “Nancy Leong moves past assumptions that the embrace of identity is always a positive good and into a clear-eyed assessment of the ways that disingenuously instrumental use of identity displaces substantive reform and alienates Americans from each other. This is an invaluable read.” —Osamudia R. James, Dean’s Distinguished Scholar, professor of law, and associate dean for diversity, equity, and community, University of Miami