The SAGE Handbook of Identities systematizes this complex field by incorporating its interdisciplinary character to provide a comprehensive overview of its themes in contemporary research while still acknowledging the historical and philosophical significance of the concept of identity.

Drawing on a global scholarship the Handbook has four parts:

Part 1: Frameworks presents the main theoretical and methodological perspectives in identities research.

Part 2: Formations covers the major formative forces for identities such as culture, globalisation, migratory patterns, biology and so on.

Part 3: Categories reviews research on the core social categories which are central to identity such as ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability and social class and intersections between these.

Part 4: Sites and Context develops a series of case studies of crucial sites and contexts where identity is at stake such as social movements, relationships and family life, work-places and environments and citizenship.