SOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND PERSONAL IDENTITY:

WHO ARE YOU?

Presented by Dionne Williams

Learning Outcomes

■ Gain the knowledge of where identity comes from

■ Understand why you are unique

■ Discuss the difference between playing a role and personal

identity as well as how these two interact with each other

■ Gain knowledge of identity activation and demonstrate how

people activate their identity based on 3 levels

■ Understand identity in a social and cultural settings

■ Explore what Black Culture means in the Western world

■ Gain insight to labelling and how it effects self-esteem

Introduction

I want us to explore the concept of “identity” in a framework of social constructs that relates to the world arounds us and the impact it has on our self-esteem.

■ “Identity”- labels with attached meanings that defines how you see yourself; as well as the qualities, beliefs, and expressions that you hold and/or share in a social group.

■ “Self-esteem” – is a reflective process where an individual evaluates how he/she feels about themselves and their worth. Self esteem includes beliefs about oneself.

■ So self is in two parts, what you think about the self and how you feel about the self, which impacts how you relate to others and the world around you.

Where Does My Identity Comes From?

Identity Formation

■ Since we are born into a structural society, we recognise that we need to

find ourselves in a world filled with categories/classifications and when we

identify ourselves similar to classifications, it is called identification in

identity theory (MCcall & Simmons, 1978). By going through the

identification process, an identity is born.

■ Identity comes from relating to the world around us. According to Social

identity theory (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher and Wetherell, 1987), our

concept of self comes from the social groups we identify ourselves strongly

with which is called the in-group and we tend to be biased to the positive

characteristics of that group such as status or power and be negatively

biased towards the out-group, seeing them with undesirable characteristics

we do not want to be associated with.

■ Consequently, who we identify ourselves will feed our self-esteem.

■ Example

How Am I Unique?

■ You are unique…. because you identify yourselves

with a large number of social categories available

within society, creating your own personal identity.

■ Personal identity are your goals, feelings, values

and desires that makes you function differently

than anyone else in this room even if you are an

identical twin!

Are your roles and identity of self the same thing?

Playing Your Role VS Being Yourself■ Role is someone you are playing (behaviour wise) that has to be a certain standard due to expectations

related to that role. Performing a role requires getting something out from acting a certain way within that role, i.e. employment, favour, obedience, money, etc.

■ While being yourself is someone you are being. Your concept of you is linked to the meaning you give yourself despite roles, situations and in group memberships.

■ Personal Example

■ You can play a role that verifies your personal identity which has a common value. Thus there is room for negotiating being yourself and playing a role if the meaning you hold is similar.

■ Example

■ However, if your role is in direct conflict with your personal identity then you are more likely to give higher importance to being true to yourself (Stets, 1995).

■ Example

■ It is the same with when you are identifying with the in-groups, you will maintain more your sense of personal identity.

■ Example

“A Crisis Always Reveals a Person’s True Character”

Identity Activation■ Identity is not situation dependent.

■ We invoke our identity to verify who we say we are in any given situation.

■ In social theory, it is hypothesised that we see our identification on three levels:

1. The superordinate level – where you relate on the largest social construct scale

dependent on context e.g. “I am African”

2. The intermediate level- e.g. “I am Nigerian”

3. The subordinate level- Where you can relate on much smaller social construct

scale dependent on context e.g. “I am Yoruba”.

■ Thus dependent on the context in which we give ourselves meaning to our identity

we can choose a level to relate to as well as how important the difference means

to us.

■ i.e. I may say I am “African” in an ethnically diverse group, if I am amongst a

homogenous group such as a black group then I may say I am “Nigerian”, and if I

am amongst a Nigerian group, I may identify myself as “Yoruba”.

Identity In A Social Construct

■ In society, we are normalised to a way of living and way of being.

■ Why is this? In social identity theory, we call the cognitive process,

depersonalisation, where an individual sees themselves as an embodiment of

meanings and norms (values) of a social category, we see as the “in-group”

sees. It is the membership of the in-group that sets norms for our behaviour,

appearance, rituals, and labelling.

■ It is the depersonalisation that allows us to comply to the social construct’s

ideas, customs and behaviours, social stereotyping, ethnocentrism, unity,

cooperation, altruism, and emotional oneness (Stets and Burkes, 2000). And in

turn, when a person depersonalises themselves in a culture, we seek validation

of belonging by acting according to the culture we belong to.

■ Examples

■ Why do people do this? Mainly to fit in the social setting we are in. Our identity

in a social construct benefits us greatly as it elevates our self-esteem which

motivates us to learn more about ourselves, reduce uncertainty in a life of

chaos, and to experience validation of being authentic to self, mastery of self,

and acting according to the social norms in that social category.

Does that mean our identity is deeply rooted in culture?

Cultural Identity

■ Well, yes according to Cultural identity.

■ Cultural Identity is an individual feeling that they belong to

a group with its own distinct culture that unites individuals

as “at oneness”.

■ It is part of an individual’s self-conception and self-

perception which includes nationality, ethnicity, religion,

social class and social groups.

■ Let us look specifically at “Black Culture” in the western

modern world.

What Is Black Culture?

■ Black culture is a formation of ideas, customs, and social behaviour of people

from African descent that is a lifestyle made out of assumptions pertaining to

being Black. It's a fluid and multi-layered. Often hard to describe.

■ CNN 2014 article entitled 5 things to know about black culture and the writer

commented on Black culture saying:

■ “"Black Culture" is a lifestyle standard made of assumptions about black

identity, often used successfully by marketers, studio heads, fashion brands and

music labels to make money… Black culture may have been born in black

communities, or created by black Americans. But when appropriated for

commerce, there is a danger of mistaking "Black Culture" for actual cultural

EXPERIENCE. That's where the myth begins, and it can devalue real human

experiences… We are often told what being black is by people who aren't. Up

and coming black hip hop artists are moulded to appeal to the masses by white

label executives. Television shows with black characters might have no black

writers or directors...”

Black Culture: Food For Thought

■ Could the article have a point?

■ Is our cultural identity coming from Black communities nowadays or are

black communities told their cultural identity by out-groups through catchy

songs, soaps, celebrities, fashion gurus and mainstream media?

■ This is important to ponder on because it is relevant, it is effecting the future

generations born into a society that has social categories/classifications that

will try and put on them which may be hurtful to their identity formation.

■ There is a saying in my house: ”If you don’t teach yourself who you are then

the world will tell you who you are.”

■ Could be it even conceivable that the Black culture that is “appropriated for

commerce” we are consuming and upholding are actually choke holding us

to keep us in an identity crisis and dysfunctionality?

Sticks And Stones May Break My Bones But Words Will Never Hurt Me

Labelling Theory

■ Labelling theory is the theory of how the self-identity and behaviour of individuals

may be determined or influenced by the terms used to describe or classify them. It

is associated with the concepts of self-fulfilling prophecy and stereotyping.

■ So maybe words do hurt us….

■ The labels that are attached to you and I are socially constructed and

reconstructed through social interactions we have with each other. We obtain

labels from how we (the minority) and others (the majority) view our tendencies or

behaviours, which consciously and subconsciously impacts our self-esteem and

intrude on how we experience reality.

■ Remember the CNN article said: “there is a danger of mistaking "Black Culture" for

actual cultural EXPERIENCE. That's where the myth begins, and it can devalue real

human experiences”

■ Labels describe human experiences (real or perceived), give me examples of

labels attached to identity.

“Black”

■ Let’s look at the label “BLACK” as an example.

■ What are the labels or thoughts attached to being

Black in today’s British society and media (majority

out-groups)?

■ Black – (in-group bias) power, strength, soulful,

original, gods, African, beginning of humanity,

heritage, love, honest, unashamed, rich history and

culture, unique, equal, historical, slavery,

overcoming, justice, resilience, beautiful,

togetherness, fun.

■ Black- (out-group bias) crime, slavery,

aggressive, hip hop, chocolate, sporty, welfare,

good dancer, arrogant, attitude, N word,

ebony, gold teeth, rappers, weed smokers,

play the victims, promiscuous, thugs, loud,

single parents, absent father, crab in a barrel

mentality, baby mamas, been in prison, too

forgiving, stuck in the past, always late, lazy,

dirty, non-educated.

■ Are these representations of the label of “Black” that

stereotypes Black British people and encourages self-

fulfilment of both positive and negative social norms within

Black Culture?

■ This is why I named my talk “Who are you?” I am

challenging you to challenge yourself to define who you are

on personal level but more so on a bigger level- socially and

culturally.

■ It is important to challenge at times as our identity as it is

rooted in belonging to a culture as we act and accept norms

of perception, values and behaviours.

■ Isn’t about time, we reject the world’s teaching of who we

are and teach the world who we are?

■ Well, it starts with answering a simple but complex

question…

Who are you?

References■ McCall, George J. and J. L. Simmons. 1978. Identities and Interactions. New York: Free Press.

■ Simien, Justine. 2014. “5 things to know about black culture now”. CNN Website:

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/25/living/justin-simien-black-culture-now/

■ Stets, Jan E. 1995. “Role identities and person identities: Gender identity, mastery identity,

and controlling one's partner”. Sociological Perspectives 38.2: 129-150.

■ Stets, Jan E., and Peter J. Burke. 2000 “Identity theory and social identity theory.” Social

psychology quarterly: 224-237.

■ Turner, John C., Hogg, Michael A., Oakes, Penelope J., Reicher, Stephen D., Wetherell,

Margaret S. 1987. Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. New York:

Basil Blackwell.