When did we start talking about race as something we identify with as opposed to a system that maps onto us and shapes conditions of possibility for individuals, communities, and even societies?

I mean this as a somewhat serious question. Because it seems that discourse has shifted in such a way where it can be lucrative to “identify” a certain way as an individual without giving any analysis of the system that surrounds us. A neoliberal co-operation of identity.

And to be clear I’m not say people can’t find empowerment in claiming an identity/heritage. But even that is conditioned by a system that maps onto the individual.

Put differently, would you find empowerment in claiming that identity/heritage outside of this context/history?

Capitalist systems thrive on individualism. And capitalism makes individualism marketable through consuming identities. And I’m just wary of how we talk about identity and how the system that surrounds us profits or doesn’t from that.