Social Identity Paper

The social identity matrix project was a complex task to complete in general. Complex in the sense that it was not hard, but more so of me having to think about each of the different the identity categories that had to be filled out. Personally, I have not ever sat down to contemplate about each of the different categories. For example, the only time that each of these categories have ever became relevant is when I have had an experience with someone else bringing it to attention. Whether, it was my race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual identity. While, it does not surprise me how complex it was for me to focus on things I do not talk about but I fully understand each of the categories. Above all, I know who I am and I can only hope people see the person I portray to be.

…offers up particular notions of agency in which white working class and middle class men are allowed to see themselves as oppressed and lacking because their masculinity has been compromised by and subordinated to those social and economic spheres and needs that constitute the realm of the feminine.

Further, my experience in life has influence my interaction between my social identities and becoming a social worker. As a multiracial female I have experienced both target and agent status. This experience will assist in my journey and growth in becoming a social worker. I will have the knowledge and skills to help individuals escape the stigma of a particular social identity. In time my growth in the field of social will give me a different perspective on topics I am bias towards. As a social worker certain values are demonstrated to assist the client in receiving adequate service. Dedication is a value I admire in the field of social work, but at times clients may feel differently and a conflict of interest can

Peggy McIntosh concludes white privilege is, “an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was meant to remain oblivious.” The writer came to this conclusion when observing male privilege initially in America. McIntosh discusses the lack of acknowledgement of men when it came to addressing their own advantages over women even if they could admit the position of disadvantage of women. This shed light on how white privilege is curtailed; In the United States, foundations of our society are interlaced with institutionalized privilege creates unethical levels of dominance; dominance of males over females, whites over people of color,

No matter how much a person desires to live according to their personal autonomy, he or she will never escape the influence of societal forces. Explicitly or subtlety, these forces shape our individuality. One intriguing manner that these societal forces manifests itself in is our name. As Ruth Graham writes, “It’s becoming increasingly clear today that names carry a wealth of information about the world around us, the family we arrived in, the moment we were born—and that they mark us as part of cultural currents bigger than we realize.” Names alone provide evidence that individuals are made by interactions with social institutions and groups. Ultimately, the inescapable nature of society’s influence demands individuals to ponder how much personal autonomy is actually autonomous and to what extent does the pursuit of personal autonomy lead to a life of emptiness and vanity.

Few people are going to openly admit to being prejudice against people of other races, gender, and religions. However that doesn’t stop many of us from having unintentional racist thoughts. In 1979, Henri Tajfel, a social psychologist, proposed that “the groups which people belonged to are an important source of pride and self-esteem. Groups give us a sense of social identity: a sense of belonging to the social world.” This ideal of categorizing and subconsciously labeling ourselves is better known as “Social Identity Theory”. Tajfel continues by saying “In order to increase our self-image we enhance the status of the group to which we belong. For example, England is the best country in the world! We can also increase our self-image by discriminating and holding prejudice views against the out group (the group we don’t belong to). For example, the Americans, French etc. are a bunch of losers! Therefore, we divided the world into “them” and “us” based through a process of social categorization (i.e. we put people into social groups). This is known as in-group (us) and out-group (them). Social identity theory states that the in-group will discriminate against the out-group to enhance their self-image.” We all unintentionally discriminate against others that are in the “out-group”, and by doing this we are excluding ourselves from certain religions, cultures, races, and even genders. This ideal of labeling ourselves can be traced back to childhood and factors such as where we

In “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh, the message that the author is trying to get across is that white men have privilege they have the freedom to do more than women without being coitized or judged by society. Women, and men of color are often judged as a race, an action of an individual of a different ethnicity or race whether it be positive or negative is reflected onto others of the same ethnicity. Individuals of color are constantly faced with racism and discrimination. This article connects to gender and women’s study, because we strive for equality. Only with equality can the society be fair, without privilege everyone would have the same opportunities and resources available. Women and men will be

Social identity theory proposed by Tajfel & Turner (2004) is a theory of group membership and behaviour which has made significant contributions in explaining in-group favouritism, out-group denigration, competition and other interactions of an individual among social groups (Korte, 2007; Brown, 2000; Tajfel & Turner, 2004). Social identity theory can be defined as an individual’s sense of who they are based on the group that they belong to through a process of self-categorisation and depersonalisation (Tajfel & Turner, 2004). In this essay, I will define social identity theory through its three mental processes involved in group evaluation which are: social identification which is a process whereby we are placed into certain

In my recent adult life, I have always liked to joke around about my association with every agent group in contemporary America as a straight, white, able-bodied, middle class, Christian, European, suburban, cis-gendered male from a nuclear family in the Midwest. It feels at times that I was plucked from a 1950’s advertisement. Additionally, through most of my life, I was surrounded by people who share the same identity and did not get regularly exposed to difference until I came to Ohio State. As a result, I found it difficult to acknowledge or discuss privilege as it was never something I had to do until I came to college. In this reflection, I will examine what privilege means to me, my experience in the male agent group, and my experience in the suburban agent group.

In this paper I will be discussing my experiences being labeled as deviant. All my life I have struggled with social anxiety. This anxiety makes it difficult for me to talk to other people in social situations or speak to others in large groups. As a result of this, others often see me as ‘weird’. Throughout this paper, I will analyze how I have come to be labeled deviant and how I have adapted to this label over the course of my life.

B. In Tashlin’s book the bear was told that he was not a bear and society convinces to change his identity.

Social identities have a lot of significance on people’s lives today. People have adopted these norms of behaviors, the values and beliefs which come along with social identities. Various groups within the society have different expectations and standards of behavior which are now seen as a completely natural thing rather than just beliefs. There are different norms of social identities which include the race/ethnicity, religion, class, gender and sexuality. This paper will focus more on the class and gender social identities.

Many people feel uncomfortable showing certain parts of their identity, as they might be ashamed of it. It has been considered for a long while that, to protect one’s wellbeing, it is beneficial to hide the negative aspects of one’s self. However, in 2014, professor Manuela Barreto from the University of Exeter have found that hiding stigmatised identity may, in fact, decrease your belongingness to the group. Baretto and colleagues asked participants to hide their stigmatised identity when interacting and then measured the quality of the interaction. Not only they found that hiding negatively affect feelings of belongingness, but also they found that other person felt like the interaction was less authentic, leading a person not only to feel

Some real world examples of how one thinks about themselves before and/or after they know what they think are how they act and react with others. “We are not only our brother’s keeper; in countless large and small ways, we are our brother’s maker ~ Bonaro Overstreet” (Adler & Rodman, 2006, p. 49). One wants conformation of the facts as they are seen by themselves and others. If one thinks they are green and everyone else thinks they are red, they might begin to believe they are red and plug that in to their self-perception. These colors might already be bringing things to mind about one’s identity because of what is associated with colors, for instance. Red might be associated with fire and halting, and green might be associated with nature

Individuals tend to think that explaining your identity is a simple answer, but in fact, it is a difficult question to answer. One way that that one defines their identity is by a person’s experiences or the interactions that they have with the people that they interact with. Another way that a person’s social identity can be described as, is the feelings, perceptions, and thinking that a person has, due to the person’s group memberships. While these definitions are similar and connected to one’s social identity, this writer resonates most with how a person’s feelings, perceptions, and thinking come from their group memberships. In addition, social identity is important because it enables one to develop and help individual’s gain a sense of their self-identity and self-expression. Some popular examples that a person might consider to be part of their social identity are: ethnicity, gender, religion, and sexual orientation.