The Importance Of Group Identity

Language plays a significant role in defining who we are. It is a method of communication in a structured and conventional way. “Language reinforces feelings of social superiority or inferiority; it creates insiders and outsiders” (p. 242) states Robert MacNeil (2012) in his article “English Belongs to Everybody”.

Foucault (1977) uses discourse to relate to how language can be used to construct ideas and thoughts about groups. Discourses and language can therefore help construct or reduce oppression (Thompson, 2006). If a group has power, they have the ‘ability and opportunity to fulfil or obstruct personal, relational, or collective needs’ (Prilleltensky, 2008). If the dominant discourse of a less powerful group is positive, the group with power may help that group fulfil their needs. If the dominant discourse of a less powerful group is negative, such as with UASC, the powerful group may obstruct them in fulfilling their needs, and therefore will cause oppression.

Depersonalisation occurs when an individual identifies with a certain group as he/she adopts the group’s identity wherein his/her personal identity takes less priority and he/she tends to downplay his/her’s own personal attributes in favour of acquiring the group’s attributes (Swann Jr et al., 2009; Korte, 2007). An individual constructs meaning of this social identity through self-categorisation and adopts the appropriate behaviour that is expected and utilised within the group (Korte, 2007). This further suggests that individuals have the tendency to display behaviours that the group they identify with displays even if it conflicts with their personal identity (Korte, 2007). Also, the more salient an individual’s social identity, the more likely the

By welcoming the diverse languages and religions of the world, America is considered a melting pot of both cultural and ethnic identities. In the essay about bilingualism “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldúa she writes, “So, if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity - I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself” (172). Anzaldúa believes that her ethnicity and language are what make her who she is. Therefore, by insulting her language, she is insulted as well. Her identity is “twin skin” with how she speaks. Linguistic identity is the ability for a person to speak freely in any language and ultimately their identity is shown through shared language. The things that define a person are their actions, their behavior, the way they walk, and the way they talk. A person’s culture has a heavy influence on their identity throughout their lives. To disrespect an important part of their culture, their language, is to disrespect the person on an extremely interpersonal level. The person would be, therefore, discouraged from speaking their native language. Anzaldúa shows that her language constitutes who she is; it binds her to the existence of her identity therefore a person’s language defines his/her identity.

Throughout history, identity is often viewed as a something inherently stable. However, I argue that identity should be viewed as something far more complicated than this – particularly if one articulates the modern notion of a fluid conception of identity. Identity is something that is constantly in flux. Then, identity is constructed of the vastly diverse geographies, histories, and the spaces and places that one inhabits throughout their life. To put it simply, identity defines who we are. Therefore, it is inextricably bound to notions of difference , where representations of people can change depending on the

All individuals are part of cultural groups that shape identity, and because someone is part of a certain cultural group they can be treated unequally. During the lecture there was an example of resumes being tossed out because the names sounded ethnic. This proves that if an individual’s name is associated to their culture and if their culture is not white they will not be treated with respect. This also proves that although labels and groups are important to help shape identity, society will use these labels, and the group’s people are a part of, to discriminate them. The power of the group was also discussed as a means to resist inequality, and in order to do so groups must share similar backgrounds and share a common

“A linguistic system is a series of differences of sound combined with a series of differences of ideas; but the pairing of a certain number of acoustical signs with as many cuts made from the mass thought engenders a system of values.” [1] We can start to delve into the logocentrism of western culture by looking at differentiation and intersectionality. But the more interesting idea is that the United States is very phallogocentric. Let’s not view these four authors as individuals but rather pit them into a group identity. The problem is that people fit into multiple groups, race, ethnicity, wealth, there are infinite groups. Eventually we realize that “the smallest minority on the Earth is the individual.” [2]

Daughter, student, journalist, sister, Catholic, middle-class -- that 's just scratching the surface of what my identity is. As author Barbara Ryan points out, I know I don 't have a single identity and I know it is not fixed, but I wasn 't quite sure of what "identity politics" was. Thankfully, Ryan did a great job of explaining how our identities, as well as how we perceive other 's identities, or how we allow for people 's identities to affect the way we act think of and act toward them, can affect social movements. People 's identities can also lead to the fragmentation of people of a social movement who might have a common goal. Reading this introduction and now better understanding how identities can aid in the buffering of people

Identity can be defined as 'how I see myself and how others see me. ' (Questioning Identity. 2000. p7) An identity involves a sense of belonging, an individual chooses to identify with a group and actively engages in doing so, showing agency. This sense of belonging involves being the 'same ' and recognising that others are 'different '. An individual can have multiple identities e.g. gender, supporting a football team; all of these identities make up the individual. Structures such as gender and class, influence, encourage or prevent individuals from identifying with certain groups and therefore shaping the identity.

In the same manner as James Baldwin, I defend language to be a political instrument and the most crucial key to identity, in most cases. Language expresses the identity of the human; thus, connecting local and widespread communities. First impressions depict one’s identity among a group, from the moment one opens their mouth, their language outputs an impression in as short as seven seconds.

In Bonnie Norton’s Fact and Fiction in Language Learning (2000), she writes, “The question ‘Who am I?’ cannot be understood apart from the question ‘What am I allowed to do?’ (pg. 8)”. While the chapter in which this question is found discusses the ways in which immigrant women cultivate their identity through their privileges - or lack there of - in society, this question can be applied to a multitude of minoritized groups and used to analyze the impact unequal power representations have on the creation of one’s own identity. In recent years, increased attention has been drawn to the LGBTQA+ community, specifically to those who identify outside of the socially constructed gender binary, and prefer the use of pronouns outside of those attributed to their perceived gender performance.This issue has garnered considerable media attention, most recently in September when University of Toronto Professor Jordan Peterson released a video lecture in which he discussed his frustration with being asked to use alternative pronouns, such as they/them, by trans and gender-neutral students and staff members (Murphy, 2016). This has opened a series of dialogues and a media frenzy over how individuals choose to identify themselves and whether or not others have the right to refuse those identities and the means through which they are constructed. If both language and gender are socially constructed notions (Mooney & Evans, 2011), then anyone should have the right to utilize either to their

Discourse is produced and re-produced within a given society it shapes who “we” are and “our” behavior and responses in different social contexts. However, taking a phenomelogical perspective, it is important to recall that our experiences as individuals, also shape who “we” are, and add (or reduce) constraints to our responses. If the assumption, that culture is not static, and it is constantly being redefined by the social actors who experience it, we might be able to find an answer, that does not lie on a “either, or” answer, to the following question: does the existence of “them” threat the existence of

Language, culture and individual personal attributes are all things we consider when describing what identity is and how it is influenced. Culture influences many aspects of an individual's life such as traditions, belief systems, norms, personal values and more. A language is a form of expression, it also reveals a person's origins such as what country they are from. Both culture and language shape a person's identity and can make an individual feel as though they belong. Translations by Friel not only does a great job of demonstrating the importance of language and cultural identity but also shows how easily both can be stripped from a society.

Identity refers to structured sense of self, which manipulates itself in threads of life (Burr, 2015). Figure 1 of Tūrangawaewae shows individuals identity can be classified under our age, our gender (male or female), the values and beliefs we share (religious or non- religious), the experiences ( good or bad), the people we surround ourselves with (friends and family), also not limited to, from our genetic inheritance (ancestors or parents). However, identity threads are not pre inherited but are pre-constructed idea influenced by social experiences (Kahu, 2015). I am a woman, 21 years of age, Christian by faith, Fijian Indian by ethnicity. I use mind set of goals to convey through my identity. For example, excelling

“Some…memberships are more salient than others; and some may vary in salience in time and as a function of a variety of social situations” (Tajfel, 2-3) Salience of identity, in the way that we need to understand it in the case of perception and decision making, can be operationalized as the likelihood that a particular identity will be invoked within a certain situation that the individual is being faced with (Hogg, Terry, & White, 257). As mentioned previously, everyone holds various identities but salience is the process through which we subconsciously decide which we be used to base our decision making or preferences on. “The salience of a particular social identity for an individual may vary from situation to situation and indeed from