structural influences on identity and the interaction between individual agency and social structures

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TMA 02 Question Part (a)

Identify and describe three structural influences on identity.

In order to discuss structural influences on identity it is important to first understand why identity is of importance to social scientists. Primarily social scientists need to understand the formation of identities and how and when this takes place. Secondly, social scientists need to understand what level of control a person actually has of shaping their own identity, and finally what if any uncertainties concerning identity that currently affect the UK. Furthermore social scientists have made a distinction between agency, this being the level of control that we ourselves have in relation to who we are and structure, which is the forces of which we are unable to control but which, never the less, contribute to shaping our identities (Woodward, Pg 6). Social structures constrain people's ability to adopt certain identities (Lewis and Phoenix pg 131). These distinctions greatly assist when evaluating identity and all the questions that surround the topic.

For the purposes of the essay the three structural influences that I have chosen to discuss are gender, social class, and culture.

When discussing gender in this way it is important