StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

What is Identity and what does it do - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Whilst a great deal has been written about the national identity, group identity and individual identity, there seems to have been rather little research attempting to link individual, group and nation identity. …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER97.4% of users find it useful
What is Identity and what does it do
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "What is Identity and what does it do"

s What is Identity and what does it do Whilst a great deal has been written about the national identity, group identity and individual identity, there seems to have been rather little research attempting to link individual, group and nation identity. The apparently most relevant previous work is William Bloom's study "Personal identity, national identity and international relations" published in 1990. However on examination this proves rather disappointing apart from preliminary definitions such as ""National Identity .. that paradigm condition in which a mass of people have made the same identification with the national symbols - have internalised the symbols of the nation - so that they may act as one psychological group when there is a threat to, or the possibility of the enhancement of, these symbols of national identity" (Bloom, 1990: 52).

Ethnic groups (that is groups with real or apparent genetic similarity) are a central source of values and identity, significantly more so than class, so much so that the modern state has been unable to absorb them. What the modern state has done, however, is to carry through a far-reaching integration of ethnic groups, so that those living in the same state share a range of features, attitudes, values when it comes to politics. Such groups are the central mechanism for providing individuals with their identity; "rather than thinking about individuals 'sacrificing' part of their identity when the become part of a group, [we should regard] individual identity as possible only in the context of secure group attachments.

The notion of individuals apart from groups.is a product of western thought, not the human experience" (Gellner, 1993: 76)."Groupism" then as a primary human behavioural pattern is the readiness to form groups round any observed or imagined differences in bodily or mental characteristics; almost anything will serve: proximity, language, age, sexual inclination, skin colour, eye and hair colour, shared historical or individual experience, metaphysical beliefs, shared descent - even apparently trivial interests such as Star Trek, soccer, basketball or baseball teams, real ale.

Those who consider themselves similar in some respect tend to aggregate, to form a herd or flock and in so doing immediately are distinguished from (more or less strongly) those who identify themselves with other groups.Nations, societies, or states are in-groups on the largest scale, formed of multiple subsidiary in-groups and regarding other nations, societies or states as out-groups. Consideration of smaller groups can throw light on the cohesion of the largest groups. The obverse of the unity of the group is the potential for inter-group conflict.

Social identity plays an important role in group-out group relations, the distribution of resources, self-categorization, and expectations for behavior. It is an automatic redefinition of "self" in terms of shared group membership.REFERENCESAppadurai, Arjun (1996) Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Bloom, William (1990) Personal identity, national identity and international relations. Cambridge Studies in International Relations.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Gellner, E. (1983) Nations and Nationalism. Blackwell: Oxford.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“What is Identity and what does it do Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1527313-what-is-identity-and-what-does-it-do
(What Is Identity and What Does It Do Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1527313-what-is-identity-and-what-does-it-do.
“What Is Identity and What Does It Do Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1527313-what-is-identity-and-what-does-it-do.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF What is Identity and what does it do

How Does Paid Employment Affect Your Identity

On the contrary the lower economic sections of the society do not have much resource to draw the attention of people.... An Individual with high level of income tends to have a flamboyant social setting does his best to create an identity among the people that he belongs to the upper level of society.... Paid employment affecting identity In the modern era, the identity of an individual depends upon the nature of his employment....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

How Does Paid Employment Affect Your Identity

How does Paid Employment Affect Your Identity?... Name Instructor Task Date How does Paid Employment Affect Your Identity?... identity can be described as an individual's sense of self (Cote & Levine, 2002, p.... hellip; One's identity is frequently theorized either as an individual (personal identity) or as a group (social identity) (Cote & Levine, 2002, p.... Personal identity can be described as the organization of one's perceptions and individual evaluations that are important to them, with regard to individual concepts, image, or self-esteem....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

How Does Paid Employment Affect Person's Identity

Name Institution Professor Course Date How does Paid Employment Affect a Person's Identity?... For instance, the way a person perceives himself affects the kind of goals that they set for themselves in life, the manner of achieving them and their view on what goals and visions are feasible (Newman 2011, 60).... The interactions and the relationships therefore formed in the work place make up a lot of what a person becomes.... Introduction The identity of people is more often than not shaped by the kind of career they engage in....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

How Does Paid Employment Affect Your Identity

Our identity also changes as our surroundings and our roles in it changes, which then translates that it is also what we chose to prioritise, what we rationally chose to fulfil, and what we may prefer to be concerned about (Martin and Barresi, 2003).... How does Paid Employment Affect a Person's Identity?... Knowing what a person's role would be in an organization would dictate his or her roles, which would more or less be the same with persons of the same rank in the ladder....
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay

How Does Paid Employment Affect The Identity

Also, there definitely exists a direct relationship between a worker's identity and the amount of salary on which he or she is employed in any organization.... The research emerged from the author's interest in how does paid employment affect the identity.... hellip; This paper is primarily based on discussing if paid employment affects the workers' identities or not, in what ways, and also the factors influencing those identities within the organizational setup....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Does Kinaalda Ritual Have Lasting Impact on Person's Identity

Obviously, we described a ceremony that stand for attribution of a social identity unfolding that strengthens the vital feminine gender position in matrilineal way of life.... It is the well-off expressiveness of rituals that induce improvement toward finest identity being a very exact ascription of a female identity.... 412) It is shown in Erikson's (1968) statement: "identity formation begins where the usefulness of identification ends" (p....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

When does sexual identity begin

Conway at City University in conjunction with Bristol University, discovered that girls exposed to higher levels of androgens, testosterone in the womb While this information was not relevant to boys in this test, this does indicate that the various hormones levels of a mother can have influence on the development of the child.... The formation of sexual identity begins at the moment of conception when the egg is penetrated by sperm carrying either the X chromosome, or the Y chromosome....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Proposal

How Does Food Intersect with Identity

The source of identity and power for women may be lost if women lack access to food.... The current paper under the title "How does Food Intersect with Identity" highlights that identity entails the fact or state of being the same under different conditions or aspects.... While the principal role of food is nutrition, it also holds cultural dimensions where individuals eat what they eat not only based on nutritional value or flavor, but also based on social status, class, gender, and national identity....
7 Pages (1750 words) Research Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us