To What Extent Can We Form Our Own Identities

Topics: Sociology, Identity, Personality psychology Pages: 5 (786 words) Published: November 30, 2008
Are our identities established through choice or constructed for us by

society and what is expected of us in line with our gender, class and culture?

Can we change our identities to fit in with how we want society to see us rather

than how society expects to see us?

Firstly we should not confuse personality with identity. Personality traits may be

something we have in common with people we meet but identifying with a certain

social group is something we choose to do usually as a result of the things we

have in common. Personality is categorised as an internal characteristic not a

choice. (Woodward 2004, p.6)

Identity is, on the whole, how we are seen by society. Our identities

are first formed by the initial factors that are present at birth alongside the society

we are born into. This is based on several factors; gender being the most

obvious of these. Other factors include skin colour, language and ethnicity.

These factors are combined along with others to create what we come to know as

‘ourselves’, our identity.

How we are perceived by others also forms part of our identity as it puts us into

an identified social group. How we see ourselves comes later as we develop our

own sense of self. As we grow and become more self-aware our identity changes

and we begin to mould ourselves developing our own personal identity. This is

done through choices we make (agency) and through interaction with forces

beyond our control (structure).

When we meet new people we tend to question their identity to establish where or

if we fit in with their social group. This inevitably includes looking for ways in

which we are similar but also different.

On occasion we won’t have to ask questions as the badges people wear can

answer these for us. In this situation we can establish an immediate

connection even if we have never met them before. Someone wearing a T-shirt

bearing the logo of your favourite band would be someone you could connect

with instantly regardless of any other factors of their identity. (Woodward 2004,

p6). We use symbols so as others will see us in the way we want them too. Hair

colour or style will set us apart from some but also connect us to those we want to

identify with. “We symbolise the sort of person we want others to think we are

through the clothes we wear and the ways in which we behave”. (Mead 1934,

p12)

Our careers also play an important role in the formation of our identity. In our

choice of job we will associate with our colleagues, with whom we share a

collective identity, working for the same cause and aiming for similar goals. This

is another part of the agency that helps define our identities, the choices we make

in the careers we take up and the geographical areas in which we work.

The structures by which our identities are formed are beyond our control. The

culture into which we are born will be the foundations of our identity. As we

advance in years and knowledge we have the choice to change aspects of our

culture, therefore changing parts of our identity. The colour of our skin, age,

ethnicity and class are some of the restrictions that will prevent us changing our

identities completely. Gender is also a structured part of our identities from a

legal aspect. Whilst someone may change their gender, the official

documentation that records that persons existence will always state the gender

under which they were born. (Woodward 2004, p10)

Assuming the identity of a parent is also a choice we make, being a sibling, aunt,

uncle or grandparent is a part of our identity over which we have no control. We

can also take on different identities depending on the situation we are in at any

given time, socialising, working or in our own home environment.

In conclusion we can have a degree of...


References: Woodward K, Questioning Identity: Gender, Class, Ethnicity. Chapter 1, Questions of Identity. London, Routledge/The Open University.
Continue Reading

Please join StudyMode to read the full document

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Essay on To What Extent Is Our ‘Identity’ Chosen for Us?

    ...To what extent is our ‘identity’ chosen for us? What is identity? Where does identity come from? For some identity is who we are as a whole and according to the Oxford English Dictionary identity is ‘prove or recognise who or what a person or thing is’. Oxford Dictionary of Sociology on the other hand starts off with a three page explanation on how identity came about. In this essay we will look at the issue of identity using the macro perspective, structural functionalism and hopefully reach as conclusion. When looking at the subject of identity they are what can be seen as many differing types such as the inner self, ME, I, the personal identity and of course the social identity. The inner self refers to the ‘little voice’ in our heads Blackmore (1999) described this as ‘the real you’ and claimed that it is the part of the person which thinks, dreams and controls memories, therefore it is seen to persist throughout the life span giving a sort of continuity. Personal identity or Self-identity on the other hand, is how we see ourselves; it is seen as public and visible. On the personal side it is seen as things such as birth records, passports...

    Read More
    1514 Words 7 Pages
  • to what extent can development be sustainable Essay

    ...Curitiba in southern Brazil has the 5th biggest economy of cities in Brazil. The city acts as one of Brazil’s financial hubs. Nevertheless Curitiba also has a strong manufacturing pedigree with the South American headquarters of Volvo trucks located here. As a consequence the city’s population swells to over 4 million during week days. In order to cope with such large numbers of people the local government had to find a solution to the congestion throughout the city. After much consultation it was decided that the city would be pedestrianised. Furthermore a deal was secured with the local Volvo factory to supply a new form of bi-articulated bus. These buses travel along designated routes carrying over 10000 passengers per day each. The Rapid Bus Network as it is known has been calculated to be 500 times cheaper than a subway system. Unlike a subway system the network can increase the number of buses in response to varying demand. The Curitiba RBN operates cost effectively, making it extremely economically sustainable. London is also a financial hub. Unlike Curitiba it has adopted an underground train system. The system is the oldest in the world, 150 years old. This has caused many issues that other transport systems would not experience. The old tunnels need constant repair and the operational costs of the old stations far exceed that of modern subway systems. Nevertheless authorities have enclosed strategies that have made the underground...

    Read More
    1027 Words 5 Pages
  • Essay about We Can Lose Our Identity When Our Environment Changes

    ...We can lose our identity when our environment changes A change in environment could cause us to lose our identity to some extent. Everyone's identity is different to a certain extent due to our upbringing and physical appearance. A person's name for example would tell a lot about themselves. The culture and language they have been using and even the meaning to the name is also part of a person's identity. The little details and characteristics of a person influences a person's identity to a certain extent. Thus, how does one lose their identity when their environment changes? This intriguing question has no simple and definite answer. Furthermore, even though we are encouraged to be different and to be proud of who we are as individuals, society still has a whole list of social norms to abide to in order to be classified as 'normal.' There is a large grey area on how different we can be in order to behave socially appropriately and yet be able to display our uniqueness as an individual. Therefore, it is easy to lose our original identity and conform to a new identity when our environment changes. In this essay, I would like to address this...

    Read More
    1427 Words 6 Pages
  • We Can Shape Our Future Essay

    ...WE CAN SHAPE OUR FUTURE ESSAY 2/27/2013 Jessica Fernandez Rivero | WE CAN SHAPE THE FUTURE Nowadays, we live in a world of 7billion people that want or will want a good life style in which they could be much related with new technologies. These new life style, involves new technologies are very helpful but also polluting our environment. The innovation and obviously the people who are concerned about environment now are helping us to find more and more ways of improving our lives and the lives of the next generations. The question here is how we will reach this stability and still be eco-friendly. As transportation is one of the most basic things in our lives, in the last years many products such as cars were developed to be more eco-friendly and less gasoline dependent. So, we should consider the idea of getting an electric car because they are one of the most important ways to reduce motoring costs, reduce carbon use in transport, improve air quality and reduce global warming. Electric cars can produce much lower emissions than burning fuel in mobile engines. The differences between an electric car and a normal one are that they reflect the different design and utility targets for the vehicles. If all vehicles in America were hybrids for example US imports of oil would fall by 8 million...

    Read More
    583 Words 3 Pages
  • Essay about Can We Be Slaves to Our Desires?

    ...Can we be Slaves to our Desires? Epictetus argues that we can be slaves to our desires. In one example, a man clearly desires power and thinks he gains it by becoming Caesar’s friend; though in doing so, he becomes more like a slave. Although he may have increased his social status, he proves to be worse off and more enslaved than when he started. He now has to pay attention continuously to Caesar’s every word. He has to agonize constantly over whether the great Caesar views him favorably, and watch that he doesn’t do or say anything foolish. I agree that we can be enslaved by our desires. I think the man who became Caesar’s acquaintance was enslaved by his own ambition for power. The only way for him to fulfill his ambition for power was to flatter or submit to many different people. In a sense, all politically powerful people are enslaved by their desires for power. Even Julius Caesar, who was considered the most powerful man in Rome, had to be careful not to offend the Roman senators. Even in certain cases where we desire something beneficial, we can still be slaves to our desires. For instance, if a man diagnosed with terminal cancer and given three months to live desires nothing more than to be rid of the disease, he is a slave to his desire. It is a pointless...

    Read More
    681 Words 3 Pages
  • We Create Our Own Monsters Essay

    ...3-4 H 16 October 2012 We Create Our Own Monsters Monsters are different for everyone. Some may think monsters are purple, hairy, one-eyed freaks. Others may think they are atrocious beasts with chain-saws and bloody faces out to kill you! But monsters don’t just have to be a literal thing that we can see and feel. Many monsters are figurative, meaning that it’s not an actual real life monster but are features and characteristics made up of our own fears. Many times the things that make a monster scary are because of the traits we give to them from our own fears. Monsters are creatures of our own imagination that help us deal with and reflect our fears and taboos.. The University of Michigan attempts to define monsters. The way they explain monsters is that they are creatures of our own imagination. James Mitchell describes monsters and says that, “Cultures create and ascribe meaning to monsters, endowing them with their characteristics derived from their most deep-seeded fears and taboos”. What Mitchell is trying to say is that monsters are made up of our own fears. We create the characteristics of the monster based on our fears and taboos. So, for example, when we are...

    Read More
    1026 Words 5 Pages
  • we are what we buy Essay

    ...We are what we buy Ryan (Shizhe Ruan) 9067614 We live in a modern world where full of mass consumption, after industrial revolutions, the new technology allowed productive forces to be improved significantly as the development of history. Companies gained the ability to quickly produce a great deal of material items. In order to make profits via these products or services they offered, they persuade people to purchase them by adopting different marketing means. As a result of technologically and financially prosperity, and of course the marketing force, a material consumption culture had been created and we can simply argue that we cannot live without consumption nowadays, it is not only about buying of what we need, its influence had extended to the identities of our-self due to that the power of marketing allows consumers to gain the signs of success, achievement, prosperity and so on, through their consumptions. Actually, we not only construct our identities based on...

    Read More
    2002 Words 6 Pages
  • We Look After Our Own Research Paper

    ...Analysis of We Look After Our Own Some stories are meant for entertainment, others to educate but Kath Walker’s, We Look After Our Own is written to draw change and develop an understanding of a darker side of life in Australia. Written in a time when change was dawing and aborignal rights was touchy subject, Kath Walker gave an insight into the life of an aboriginal through the story. She showed the battles they faced to gain minimum services and how they were treated like second class citizens. Kath Walker shows the difficulities of being aboriginal through this story. Kath Walkers story embraces some of the topics that people ran away from in the 1950s and talks about them openly and truthfully and this is what makes the story so rivoting. Subtlity, simplistic nature, and depth are key element of the plot in We Look After Our Own. The subtilty is personified by the way the writer indicates something but doesn’t make it blatantly obvious, an illustration of this is the heritage of Mrs Edwards, the writer gives small clues to tell us that Mrs Edward is Aborignal like “We Look after our own,” but she doesn’t state that Mrs Edward is Aborginal, she leaves that to the reader to infer. The simplistic nature of the story refers to the smooth way the plot moves without many twists or turns, it is...

    Read More
    1134 Words 5 Pages

Popular Essays

Become a StudyMode Member

Sign Up - It's Free