The Crisis of Culture: Identity Politics and the Empire of Norms
Olivier Roy, a French political scientist known for his work on Islam and secularism, argues that traditional cultures, the implicit shared codes that once held societies together, have been hollowed out by globalization, the internet, and the rise of identity politics. In their place, he sees the spread of explicit norms enforced by law, human resources, social media, and international institutions. Roy traces this shift across debates about religion, gender, race, and free speech in Europe and the United States, drawing on examples from French laicite to American campus politics. He distinguishes between thick, lived culture and the thin, rule-based codes that now substitute for it, and argues that this transition produces both polarization and a strange sameness across countries. The book is translated from the French edition published the same year.
What you might want to know about The Crisis of Culture: Identity Politics and the Empire of Norms
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
An argument that shared culture has been replaced by a global system of explicit norms and identity codes.
Yes. Cowen included it on his Best Non-Fiction of 2024 list on Marginal Revolution as one of the year's most interesting books on politics and culture.
Neither cleanly; Roy is a French academic best known for work on Islam and secularism, and the book is critical of identity politics from a position that does not map onto American left-right lines.
The Crisis of Culture: Identity Politics and the Empire of Norms was written by Olivier Roy, published in 2024 by Hurst.
The Crisis of Culture: Identity Politics and the Empire of Norms is 232 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Crisis of Culture: Identity Politics and the Empire of Norms takes most readers 3 to 5 hours to finish.
The Crisis of Culture: Identity Politics and the Empire of Norms is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
