Theories And Social Identity Theory

This essay will be looking to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the social identity theory with studies to support.

In the article “Identity as an Analytical Lens for Research in Education” James Paul Gee builds up his thesis based on the idea of a person ‘being’ identified in a certain setting, can change at every instant, and in every context, and is controversial and never static. Gee is trying to infer the idea that the dynamicity of one’s identity is very dependent on the reaction to a certain encounter in a particular circumstance.

Society has a way of making assumptions based on one’s physical characteristics. Often at times we categorize individuals to a particular social group. In regard to society’ perception of an individual this however, contributes to the development of social construction of racism. Most people want to be identified as individuals rather than a member of specific social group. As a result, our social identity contains different categories or components that were influenced or imposed. For example, I identify as a, Jamaican, Puerto Rican and a person of color. I identify racially as a person of color and ethically as Jamaican and Puerto Rican. According to Miller and Garren it’s a natural human response for people to make assumptions solely

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.

In philosophy, the issue of personal identity concerns the conditions under which a person at one time is the same person at another time. An analysis of personal identity

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

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

As you go throughout life, it is not very common to stop and question your own personal identity, because you are just you, there does not seem like that much to it. But, in the philosophical world, this topic is one of the most popular things to look into and try to understand. Surprisingly, the idea of personal identity is not as simple as it seems. Many philosophers seem to question if personal identity even exists, and if they do believe it exists, how exactly? In the most popular philosophical arguments, there are three theories of personal identity that stick out; psychological approach, ego theory, and bundle theory. These three theories discuss how personal identity can be identified, or if it even exists at all. There is no way to be one hundred percent positive that one of these theories is true, so there will be always be a mystery to personal identity. Even though we can never be sure, it is always interesting to look into each theory and discuss the possibilities to our own personal identity.

Identity is something that some people have a really hard time with, deciding who you are or who you want to be seems like a simple task but for some the choice to choose who they want to be isn’t always their choice. James Paul Gee author of “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistic: Introduction” talks about identity and how people have different Discourses depending on what social situation a person is in. Gee created and described Discourse as “ ways of being in the world; they are forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures, body positions, and clothes”(Gee). Gee talks about how discourses are pretty much an “identity kit”, which means a person is able to take on different

This essay is a reflective essay on my learning development from a young age through to my current position as a University Student. I will be relating my learning development back to two theories of human development, Vygotstsky’s socio-cultural theory and Marcia’s version of Erikson’s theory of identity development. I will identify and discuss the challenge I have faced with my identity and how this has impacted on my development.

beliefs. Sober uses the example of lightning. He points out that according to the Greeks,

Who are you? Who am I? These are questions that we all ponder at some point or another in our lives. As human beings we are seemingly inundated with the desire to classify and categorise. We are constantly defining and analysing the differences that we observe in the world, it seems only natural that we would apply this method of classification to our position within our society. More specifically, we want to understand our social identities and this can be achieved by acknowledging which groups we identify most with.

By connecting the ideas from the articles and applying them with Things Fall Apart which I believe is always helpful when discussing theory is to apply it to a modern or relevant sense. It makes it much easier to comprehend somewhat complex theoretical ideas on what identity is by seeing it played out in a novel we had just previously examined. This links to what I said before with connecting concepts to my own personal experiences or previous understandings for a more holistic understanding. Although there is the argument that a good researcher is able to separate oneself from their work and simply display the facts; however, I do not think that this is what the course requires from students. I think that because identity is such an intricate part of your daily lives it would be near impossible to separate oneself from the research (or these two articles), well at least for myself.

Social identity theory, it is a person’s sense that is based around the group they are in, either by their personal identity or with different kinds of social identities. That is, people will try to improve their own image of themselves. The theory was proposed by Henri Tajfel. People can increase their self-esteem by both their own achievement and interaction with a successful group of people. This shows the importance of social belonging. This theory is based around three mental processes, social categorization, social identification and social comparison.

According to Hecht (2015), the “Communication Theory of Identity” began with the study of “self” (p. 176), which found its origins in philosophy (Mead, 1913) and, more modernly, in psychology and sociology (Hecht, 2015, p. 176). The focus on individualism began as early as the 1950’s under the constructs of self-esteem and self-concepts when questions arose about how people thought and/or felt about themselves. Scholars believed that understanding how individuals thought and felt about themselves would pave the way to better understand how people communicate. When scholars referred to “self” in a singular form it assumed that an individual had one single identity. The problem with this perspective is that, as found later, people assume a “layered” identity. For example, an athlete may be hard working on the basketball court, but aggressive and self-protected on the streets of Richmond, California. The more modern study of “self” in the disciplines of psychology and sociological describes “self” as forming from social interactions and perceptions of others. For example, how key adults such as teachers, coaches, and/or church leaders influence a child’s development. Over time, the term “self” became the term “identity. “Identity” draws on the sociological “social role theory” that detailed how people define themselves through the roles they play in society. Veering away from “self” and assuming the “identity” approach presented a more complex and precise depiction of people