This essay will look at how the personal and the social are interrelated in the formation of identities and how the degree of control we have (agency) is affected by forces beyond our control (structure).

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Part (a): To what extent can we shape our own identities?

This essay will look at how the personal and the social are interrelated in the formation of identities and how the degree of control we have (agency) is affected by forces beyond our control (structure).

Identity is shaped through interaction with the social world and our position within it. Our social world provides us with a set of behaviours and roles to take up which help shape our identities. The following of expected social behaviours has been described as, ‘acting out a part in a play where the scripts are already written’ (Erving Goffman [1959] p14), and gives the impression that we have limited control over our identity.

But it could be argued that individuals each have their own understanding and ways of interpreting their social world, and so are able to present their self in different forms. If ‘acting out a part in a play,’ then how we interpret our role gives an idea of who we are, of our identity and position in the social world.

The interrelationship between the personal and the social creates a strain between structure, which are forces beyond our control, such as gender, class and ethnicity, and agency, which is the control we have over our identity. This interrelationship can result in structures constraining people and preventing them from taking up certain identity positions. For example, the stereotyping of young, black males as trouble makers results in others perceiving them as having that identity and therefore reduces their chances of taking up another more positive identity.

 

However, social structures do change over time. For example, class, employment opportunities and gender roles have all seen big changes in the last few decades. This gives an opportunity to create different identities that previously were not available, such as the dependent housewife now taking on the identity of working independent mother. People can also influence social structures to recreate identities. The social structure which constrained the identity of people with disabilities was changed as people with disabilities campaigned for, and won, equal rights. This shows that while social structures and the constraints that they bring are influential in creating identities, people can also influence and change the structures, showing that identities are not fixed but are changing and fluid.

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While identity can change through agency influencing structure it can also change through structure influencing agency.  Changes in the economy or the types of work available can force a change in identity. For example, miner John Greaves, and the community he lived in, were forced into a change of identity when the pit he worked in closed (p26-29). His identity as a miner and his community’s identity as a successful mining village were changed when the symbols and representations of that identity were no longer there.

Mead (1934) theorized that people use symbolizing and representations, such as ...

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