Amartya Sen argues identity is not destiny and can be self-constructed

Evidence

In response to Huntington’s clash of civilizations theory, one of his fellow Harvard colleagues (and winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Economics) Professor Amartya Sen published an entire book refuting the “clash of civilizations” theory called Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny. In his book, the Nobel laureate highlighted that no single civilization anywhere is a reductive monolithic entity and that a human being’s individual “identity is not destiny.” Professor Sen’s central idea is that “identity is not destiny,” which means that each individual human being has the personal agency to construct their own respective identity outside of the confines of their civilization’s sociopolitical entrenchments. — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 677

Categorization

• DEFINE: Captures the core counter-thesis to Huntington (‘identity is not destiny,’ ‘miniaturization of human beings’) that anchors the chapter’s refutation.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 677
• XREF: connects to: Self-identity is now a reflexive project conducted amid abstract systems — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 295

Related

• Western monolithic hostility strengthens Muslim identity into cosmic defiance, making conflict self-fulfilling. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Self-identity is now a reflexive project conducted amid abstract systems #expands (0.82) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 295