ABSTRACT
Given that "identity" is the dirty word of the twentieth century, Julia Kristeva's insistence on the necessity of identification requires some explanation.
In this chapter, "identity" will refer specifically to the identity of the subject, which, paradoxically (or perhaps more to the point, dialectically), entails an identification of the subject with the symbolic order of language. In other terms, the identity of the subject requires an acceptance of the social contract.
