2nd Annual Halsey Lecture: The Limits of Identitarianism
Open to the public
Event followed by a drinks reception at the Department of Sociology
This event is free - please register to attend
The Annual Halsey Lecture is a lecture series celebrating excellence in sociology and the wider social sciences, named in honour of Professor Albert Henry Halsey, a central figure in the sociology of education.
Professor Chetan Bhatt
The Limits of Identitarianism
Professor Chetan Bhatt, London School of Economics and Political Science
This talk discusses the naturalisation of identitarian thinking across the political spectrum and in academic life. It considers the social institutional forces that have enabled its proliferation in many Western societies.
Identity politics across much of the political left, alongside ethnonationalism, racism and civilisational discourse on much of the right, are expressions of a broader identitarian logic. They are also closely linked to intensifying political polarisation.
The talk also reflects on the influence of queer, decolonial, allegedly indigenous and anti-secular approaches in academic life. It argues that identitarianism offers impoverished conceptions of modern personhood and severely constrains the possibilities for emancipatory politics.
About Professor Chetan Bhatt
Chetan Bhatt is the Anthony Giddens Professor of Social Theory at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
He previously taught at the Universities of London (Goldsmiths), Essex and Southampton. His most recent book, The Revolutionary Road to Me: Identity Politics and the Western Left, was published by Polity in 2025. He is currently completing a book on the politics and ideology of the new Western far-right.
About the Annual Halsey Lecture
The Annual Lecture is named in honour of Professor Albert Henry Halsey (Chelly to his friends and colleagues), a central figure in the post-war establishment of sociology as an academic discipline in the UK and a champion of the comprehensivisation of secondary schooling in England and Wales.
Part of the post-war generation of LSE-trained sociologists, he joined the University of Oxford as a Fellow of Nuffield College in 1962 and was the Director of the Department of Social and Administrative Studies, the forerunner of both the current Oxford Department of Sociology and the Department of Social Policy and Intervention.
Professor Halsey was a part of the Oxford community for over 50 years. His particular interests were in the sources of social inequality, social mobility, educational access and higher education.
