Is identity given to us or do we create our own?

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Iftikhar Ahmed Khan                 10/05/2007

Is identity given to us or do we create our own?

The fact that our society, social institutions, arrangements and practices existed before we were born meant that we make associations with the living and the dead, in a socially constructed world created by past and present generations:

‘The individual …is not born a member of society, but becomes a member of society’.

(Haralambos, 1980 p.3)

In order to develop a sense of identity it is necessary to have self-awareness.  As infants we have a lot to learn:

‘It (new born baby) must learn a way of life; in sociological terminology, it must learn the culture of life’.

(Haralambos, 1980 p.3)

Every culture contains a large number of norms that guide our action and define what is acceptable and what is not.  Unlike norms values are something’s that are good or desirable.  Values define what is important.  Many sociologists believe that shared norms and values are essential for an ordered and stable human society.  Culture has two essential qualities.  First it has to be learned and second it has to be shared.  Without either there would be no human society.  Ralph Linton states that:

‘The culture of a society is the way of life of its members; the collection of ideas which they learn, share and transmit from generation to generation’.

(Linton, 1980 p.3)

To a large degree culture determines our identity.  Culture defines accepted ways of behaving for members of a particular society.  Such definitions vary from society to society:

‘In Tasmania aborigine hunter’s practised infanticide and geronticide at times of famine’.

(Haralambos, 1980 p.6)

The practices of infanticide and geronticide described here are culturally defined behaviour patterns designed to ensure the survival of the group in times of extreme food shortages but:  

‘Like many of the customs of non-Western societies, they appear strange and even heartless to Westerners, but in the context of that particular society, they are sensible, rational and an accepted part of life’.

(Haralambos, 1980 p.6)

Thus sense of identity is dependent on culture.  The process where we learn our culture, develop an identity and become a member of society is known as socialisation.  For this to happen, we need sustained, structured interaction with culture and social environments.   Primary socialisation begins at birth in the family and carries through childhood.  Secondary socialisation is a:

‘Subsequent process that inducts an already socialised individual into new sectors of the objective world of his/her society’

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(Berger and Luckman, 1975 p.150)

Socialisation is not only restricted to childhood but is a lifelong process. During socialisation we take in the image of society that is mediated to us by significant others.   Bilton et al 1997 illustrates the importance of friends in the formation of identity by explaining that over our lives we will receive opinions, views and reactions that influence our self concept.  But we will not simply be able to absorb them all but choose what to take into account and what to ignore.  He believes that we will be more likely to absorb responses ...

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