Identity Around the World - An Overview - Schwartz 2012.pdf

New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2012

This chapter outlines Erik Erikson' s theory of identity, empirical operationalizations of this theory, and key assumptions that have characterized the study of identity in adolescence and emerging adulthood. It discusses the origins of psychosocial identity theories in North American cultural contexts and crosscultural issues involved in using neo-Eriksonian identity models in other contexts. In particular, the chapter examines the individualist assumptions that underlie the neo-Eriksonian approach. The chapter concludes with a review of the other six chapters in this volume and of the countries on which these other chapters focus.

Adaptation may be the best way to conceptualize the complex, multilateral relationship between individual identity and sociocultural context, because it recognizes the causal importance of culture yet also recognizes individual choice and change. This argument is developed by considering how several historical changes in the sociocultural context (i.e. increasing freedom of choice, changed interpersonal patterns, loss of traditional value bases, and rising tension between desire for uniqueness and difficulty of achieving it) have led to changes in the nature of identity. Although identity adapts to changes in its sociocultural context, these changes sometimes create new problems, including the specially problematic nature of modern selfhood.

This chapter outlines Erik Erikson' s theory of identity, empirical operationalizations of this theory, and key assumptions that have characterized the study of identity in adolescence and emerging adulthood. It discusses the origins of psychosocial identity theories in North American cultural contexts and crosscultural issues involved in using neo-Eriksonian identity models in other contexts. In particular, the chapter examines the individualist assumptions that underlie the neo-Eriksonian approach. The chapter concludes with a review of the other six chapters in this volume and of the countries on which these other chapters focus.

This paper proposes a generalized and a universal approach towards collective and individual identity formation, and one which is expected to work in practically every conceivable scenario across cultures. Our approach also has at its core, the concept of the 'Psychic unity of mankind' which implies that human thought processes, urges and impulses are essentially the same in all cultures and societies, though the nature of enculturation may vary from context to context. This approach works in globalized scenarios as well, and includes pro-active approaches for meaningful identity modulation. It also discusses the importance of identity dilution and neutralization to the extent it is realistically possible and desirable, and discusses the dangers of Identity polarization, while introducing several new concepts in this context. This approach is also linked with other frameworks such as Anthropological Pedagogy, the Sociology of Science, the latest theories in Cognitive Psychology and Human growth and development, and all the other concepts of the Symbiotic Approach to Socio-cultural change i.e., the Theory of Cultural and Societal orientations, the Theory of Mind-orientation, the Ethnography of Mindspace, the Ethnography of Enculturation and Acculturation. More importantly, our approach is consistent with our philosophy of the 'Globalization of Science', and discourages intellectual elitism and ivory-tower scholarship though Ethnographic fieldwork in diverse, representative contexts. This approach has been developed after analyzing different subjects and case studies from varied contexts, and comprises many recommendations such as ethnographic fieldwork in diverse contexts and pedagogical reform to modulate identity for better ethnic and communal harmony.

2005

The search for identity is itself problematic. It is a pervasive theme in our society. Social scientists, cultural studies scholars, dramatists and the like, use the term identity in a variety of ways to explain an assortment of phenomena. Some familiar words like identity crisis, finding oneself, self-esteem, self-actualization, are used in the search for identity. At various levels, identity and culture are either pole apart, closely knit, can stand for one another or are interrelated. Whichever way however, we form our identity by carefully and deliberately selecting values, beliefs, and concepts that better define our sense of self. This is why identity cannot invariably be wholly separated from the culture(s) which build, structure and sustain it.

Child Care Quarterly, 2011

The purpose of this special issue of the Child and Youth Care Forum is to showcase alternative perspectives and/or experiences in regard to identity development in other countries around the world. From each of the studies in this special issue we see that there are a number of different ways to study and understand identity development By examining identity development outside the US we hope to generate new ideas and new perspectives that will broaden our view of how identity develops in multiple contexts, not only in order to generalize our theories to non-American contexts, but also to be able to apply their findings to related circumstances within this country. It is hoped that such cross pollination of ideas will work toward a deeper understanding of how we can foster positive identity development in all our youth, worldwide.

2012

t h e p r o j e c t One worthwhile task for philosophy is to give an overview of a whole domain of thought and to present the conceptual relationships that characterize it. The domain we have striven to portray in this introduction, on a quite general level with a broad brush, is the contemporary debate about personal identity over time. We proceed as follows: First, we specify the metaphysical question of personal identity tackled in this volume: namely, what makes a person P 1 at t 1 identical to a person P 2 at t 2 ? Second, we discuss views which analyze personal identity in terms of bodily and psychological relations. Problems associated with these theories have recently made a fourdimensional interpretation of such views quite popular. The following section presents this canny metaphysical alternative to traditional threedimensional views. Finally we discuss a rather neglected approach to personal identity over time, the so-called "simple view," according to which personal identity does not consist in anything other than itself; it is simple and unanalyzable. Eric Olson once suggested that the simple view is poorly understood, and therefore deserves more attention than it has received so far (Olson 2010, section 3).

2015

When studying the complex issue of identity, it is necessary to decompose it into individual parts or contexts that reveal partial identities. Since they are connected to each other, a particular change in a certain identity may induce further changes in others, or even all of them. Together they create a configuration of complex Identity that is unique, original and variable in time and space. Identity is a system that can be managed. Human being can be converted into an instrument of satisfying needs, a consumer of products. People are open to what is considered and labelled as legitimate in the social world. The social world is primary; it is a cultural text, in which the processes of defining and selfdefining are ongoing. It is therefore essential to view a person or society as a holder of multiple identities.

2016

Identity is derived from the Latin “idem”, which means “being the same [person]”. Researchers approach this “powerful construct” (Vignoles et al., 2011, p. 2) in different ways: identity is variously understood as a (cognitive) self-image, as something shaped by habit, as a social attribution or role, as a habitus, a performance, or a constructed narrative (cf. Berger & Luckmann, 1991, p. 194 ff.). Identity is a constant object of academic discourses, which can be interpreted partly as a reaction to the radical changes that have taken place in modern times, and the crises that have often accompanied them. For example, George Herbert Mead’s theory on identity development emerged at the beginning of the last century in Chicago, against the background of a constantly growing number of migrants, who “threatened” the self-concept of the local residents. This led to a renegotiation of affiliation and difference, and a redrawing of the boundary between people’s own identity and that which ...