In the lay man’s world, there are some universally held beliefs that permeate almost every level of society: Africa is poor and its residents desperate for help, the Middle East is unstable and many of its regional actors are religious fanatics, and so on. However, to say that these are universally held beliefs does not necessarily mean that they are true. These beliefs are sometimes grounded upon a certain understanding of culture and identity of those being portrayed. Some of these portrayals are not based on fact, but merely representations created through discourse to advance state and actor interests in regions of activity. This paper seeks to identity the role identity and culture play in international relations (IR) and world …show more content…
This definition highlights the essence of what identity is, from its conception to its practice, and is a solid foundation on which to begin an analysis. As part of this paper’s inquiry, insight will be drawn into the inner workings and uses of culture, and so it is necessary to provide a clear definition for the term as well. William H. Sewell Jr. does not constraint culture to a specific kind of practice or an action that takes place within a specific social setting, but defines it as a dialectic of system and practice, as a dimension of social life autonomous from other such dimensions both in its logic and in its spatial configuration, and as a system of symbols possessing a real but thin coherence that is continually put at risk in practice and therefore subject to transformation” (47). Such a definition fits well within the contexts and boundaries that this paper seeks to explore. Having understood what identity and culture mean, it is now much easier to navigate their significance in global politics and IR. I argue that there are two main drivers of these nodal points in the contexts of this paper. The first is at the individual level, where people utilize identity and culture to locate other individuals of similar or identical nature, almost as a kind of social radar as described by Hale when discussing ethnicity (2004). In reality, Hale’s argument fits well within this one due to ethnicity arguably being a subdivision of identity. This conception
Identity is a group of characteristics, data or information that belongs exactly to one person or a group of people and that make it possible to establish differences between them. The consciousness that people have about themselves is part of their identity as well as what makes them unique. According to psychologists, identity is a consistent definition of one’s self as a unique individual, in terms of role, attitudes, beliefs and aspirations. Identity tries to define who people are, what they are, where they go or what they want to be or to do. Identity could depend on self-knowledge, self-esteem, or the ability of individuals to achieve their goals. Through self-analysis people can define who they are and who the people around them
Identity is the set of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group. Each people have their own personality, being different and unique from other people. Even though it’s different, each people have some similarity with others that connected them together as a community or a group. However, these groups is not open for all people, some people have to sacrifice their aspects of identity in order to belong to the group that they want to join.
Sociologists have theorized culture and its role in the society in various ways. Some conceive culture as a worldview, where culture structurally orients individual actions and the ways in which they make sense of the social worlds. Others have theorized culture based on language and how it contributes to cultural processes of giving meanings to arbitrary signs to allow individuals to make sense of the world they live it. Still others approach culture as a practical toolkit, a cache of ideas, or repertoire, from which individuals draw in their day to day life. Several other conceptions of culture (i.e., culture as values, symbolic boundaries, or capital) are also available. This paper aims to investigate the three main conceptions
Identity is anything that can provide us with a way of answering what we are. I believe that there is a core basis of
Identity. What is identity? One will say that it is the distinct personality of an individual. Others will say that identity is the behavior of a person in response to their surrounding environment. At certain points of time, some people search for their identity in order to understand their existence in life. In regards, identity is shaped into an individual through the social trials of life that involve family and peers, the religious beliefs by the practice of certain faiths, and cultural awareness through family history and traditions. These are what shape the identity of an individual.
The concept of identity is usually described as self-image the person we thing we are and self-esteem or self worth, which is concerned with the worth we attach to that
Identity is a complicated and unclear concept that has no one definition. Nonetheless, identity plays a key role in the formation of our “true” selves. Identity is free formed, ever-changing and wildly different to diverse people. Making sense of oneself- who one is, was and may become, is the basic component of identity. When defining one 's identity there is no singular place to start. Identities are wide varieties of traits, characteristics, social roles and relationships that define who we are. It orients us and provides us with tools that will in turn shape and mold ourselves for as long as we live.
Identity is a state of mind in which someone recognizes/identifies their character traits that leads to finding out who they are and what they do and not that of someone else. In other words it's basically who you are and what you define yourself as being. The theme of identity is often expressed in books/novels or basically any other piece of literature so that the reader can intrigue themselves and relate to the characters and their emotions. It's useful in helping readers understand that a person's state of mind is full of arduous thoughts about who they are and what they want to be. People can try to modify their identity as much as they want but that can never change. The theme of identity is a very strenuous topic to understand
There are millions of words across the globe that are used to describe people and uncover their identity, but what is identity? How can you begin to describe something that varies so greatly from one human being to another? Can you create a universal meaning for a word describing human concepts that people often fail to define for themselves? Of course there isn't one definition to define such a word. It is an intricate aspect of human nature, and it has a definition just as complex.
When I think of that term, I picture driving through busy intersections that drivers label as dangerous. They need countless traffic lights, signs, and roundabouts to safely transport people to their destinations, and often make the news for major accidents. That is how I see culture—an intricate path that one must navigate through. It is impossible to traverse through the streets without the structural design of indicators dictating how and when to flow. Similarly, it is impractical to find one’s identity alone, without any external
There are various kinds of identity (individualized or shared) that people are expected to possess. (Hollinger, 2004) namely; personal identity which is known as a
Identity refers to the way people see themselves--the groups they feel a part of, the significant aspects of themselves that they use to describe themselves to others. Some theorists distinguish between collective identity, social identity, and personal identity. However, they are
“In the post-Cold War world,” said Samuel Huntington, “the most important distinctions among peoples are not ideological, political, or economic. They are cultural” (21). Although some of his notions have caused a big controversial debate, his foresight on the importance of culture has been proofed. Homi Bhabha in his The Location of Culture (1994) has paid a special attention to cultural identity, and Stuart Hall in his article, “The Questions of Cultural Identity,” has divided identity into two categories—personal identity and community identity—claiming that the latter one is social or cultural identity. And as far as I am concerned, personal identity in a sense can be counted as cultural identity. Inhabiting in a cultural and social world
Denis Cosgrove and Peter Jackson (1987:99) argue that culture should be understood as “the medium through which people transform the phenomena of material world into a world of significant symbols to which they give meaning and attach value” & hence culture is the very medium through which charge is experienced, contested and constituted on as Jackson (1982:22). Culture is the “level at which social groups develop distinct patterns of life” and hence “maps of meaning through which the world is made intelligible”.
1. Identity is people's concepts of who they are, of what sort of people they are, and how