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Identity Theory: Cultural Identity, Identity And Identity

Decent Essays

Theory
Cultural Identity Theory. Culture is the values, beliefs, thinking patterns and behavior that are learned and shared and that is characteristic of a group of people. It serves to give an identity to a group, ensures survival and enhances the feeling of belonging. Identity is the definition of ones- self. It is a person’s frame of reference by which he perceives himself. Identities are constructed by an integral connection of language, social structures, gender orientation and cultural patterns. There is a complex relationship between culture and identity. Cultural identity is self-identification, a sense of belonging to a group that reaffirms itself. It is the extent to which one is a representative of a given culture behaviorally, communicatively, …show more content…

As stated by communicationtheory.org, the theory suggests a relationship between inter-cultural competence and cultural identity. The theory deals with the study into how individuals use communicative processes to construct and negotiate their cultural group identities and relationships in particular contexts. According to the theory, culture is one of the many identities expressed in communication encounters. Cultural identity becomes evident through social comparison. Speakers compare the status position of their own groups to those of other groups. An individual’s message during interaction will contain multiple cultural identities such as nationalist, racist, ethnic, class related, sex, gender based, political and religious. Because individuals enact multiple identities all voices within a group do not speak in the same way or have the same recognition by others. Early versions of the theory focused on an interpretative theoretical perspective (cultural identity processes were described not critiqued), social construction and individual discursive accounts of experience. Recent years have seen the shift to increased critical perspective–attention to contextual structure, ideologies and status

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