(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 made by significant others. Parents and friends prominently figure amongst significant. We take on their culture and make it a part of our own. Thus we acquire a sense of self, a sense of identity. Without socialisation cases such as ‘The Wild Boy of Aveyron’, ‘Genie’ and ‘Wolf Children of Midnapore’ are examples of what happens when there is no interaction. Socialisation is essential for the process of becoming human and fitting into society. Many sociologists believe that our identities are formed through the characteristic norms and values of cultures and societies that we belong to and socialise in. These characteristics are important sources of our identity and according to many of our societies are name, age, sex, gender, ethnicity, class and region. Sociologists call this the Labelling Theory, which we use to illustrate and explain the relationship between individuals and wider societies in which they live. It shows how the audience for our behaviour is influential in the creation of our identities with the use of labels and categories. From the moment we are born we are given these labels and enter into a symbolic world where meaning of everything has to be interpreted and is dependent on the context in which it exists. These categories and labels exist because they represent attempts to explain and understand differences that exist between us. Thus people who share certain similarities such as female are placed in particular social categories. Each category of a person is given or develops certain characteristics that define the category, which can change in time and place. The characteristics people have had in time and place to these categories or labels are important because they represent normative behaviour associated with roles. These roles play an integral part of our identity since they represent the way we are expected to behave, project an image of our self, assure different levels of status and exercise different levels of power.
To help us understand whether identities are given to us or created I will continue to examine a number of sociological perspectives on identity. On one hand we have Micro Sociology, which is the study of individuals within society. Interactionist or social action sociologists do not see human behaviour being shaped by society but rather they see society being shaped by human behaviour. Interactionists believe that individuals are conscious, self-aware and that their individual social action is not simply a reaction to external forces. The first school of Interactionist thought is from Max Weber (1864 – 1920) who wanted to explain how our social actions have meaning to us. He believed that our individual behaviours and actions would take into consideration the reaction of others. Also that this action would be interpreted/understood in different ways. Weber distinguishes two types of understanding. First aktuelles Verstehen (or direct observational understanding) and erkalarendes verstehen (or explanatory understanding). These understandings would mean that as individuals we are conscious and self-aware as to why we do certain things. George H. Mead (1863 – 1931) who also argues in ‘Mind, Self and Society’ that we are each conscious, thinking, individuals and the way choose to behave is conditioned by the social context of that behaviour. Our behaviour argues Mead is conditioned by two aspects of self-awareness, I and Me. I is based around your opinion of yourself as a whole. Me is based around what other people expect. The I and Me are called The Self. This sense of self takes into consideration our social context and we act to build an identity around it for others. Who you are, where you are and whom you are with will condition your reaction and role. This is captured in Charles Cooley’s 1922 term ‘Looking Glass Self’. Mead believes that as individuals we develop beyond the stage where as a child we respond to significant others to where as adults we are aware of generalised others in role-play. For Mead your identity is not something you are born with but is developed socially through interaction. Mead believes that we are able to negotiate the roles that we play hence self is socially constructed but is being re-shaped by our actions. A similar point is made by Erving Goffman (‘The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life’, 1969). Goffman uses a theatrical metaphor to show explain his ideas on identity. The social world is represented as a play in which individuals that make up society adopt certain roles and speak certain lines. The difference is the lines that we speak are created by us, not for us. Through a series of dramatised encounters (a dramaturgy) in a social context there are opportunities for social interaction. To aid our performance we use various props, which are symbolic. That is to say they are used to project an image of ourselves from the perception of others about the meaning of the symbol such as an expensive watch, which may give the impression that we are rich. Finally through our social interaction we begin to develop a sense of self an identity.
On the other hand we have Macro Sociology, which is the analysis of large-scale social systems and how society as a whole fits together. Structural sociologists believe that individuals are born into an ongoing independent social system, which determines individual behaviour. The individual acts accordingly to these forces and thus is the product of society. Writers with this perspective stress the importance of socialisation and the way people learn the already existing norms of expected behaviour. It is only by learning the cultural rules that social interaction can take place. These cultural rules provide a structure for certain types of individual behaviour. Our behaviour is constrained by the rules of society that we are born into. The first school of thought is Determinism. Determinism sociologists suggest that the individual acts accordingly to the prepared script laid down by society. The values, institutions and culture of society shape individual identity. These are acquired in the process of socialisation where individuals learn to conform to socially accepted, correct or proper forms of identities with little or no freedom. The second school of thought is Functionalism or often referred to as consensus theory because it does not address the issue of conflict in society, rather projects an ideal picture of harmonious social relationships. It was founded by Emile Durkheim (1858 – 1917). The starting point for all functionalists is that all societies have functional requirements, which need to be met if society is to survive. Functionalist are concerned with the basic needs and maintenance of society and not the individual. There concern is with how various institutions function. Emile Durkheim draws an analogy between the way a biological organ works and society. The various organs of a living creature work together to maintain a healthy whole in much the same way various institutions (family, religion) in society work together to contribute to the system as a whole. Therefore Functionalist believe that for society to survive there must be an existence of central value systems that imposes common values on all individuals. So when Functionalists look at various institutions and what their function is it is to ensure that they help perpetuate and maintain common value system. Thus individual identity needs to be constructed to socially accepted, correct or proper forms if society is to survive. The third school of thought is Marxism or often referred to as conflict theory because it views society as divided into groups or classes with conflicting interests. The most important conflict is economics because some groups will have access greater access to economic rewards than others. The means and relations of production will rise to a set of social relationship based on a class (social stratification). Your identity will be primarily be determined by your social class. Under Marxist theory social class is the most important source of self-image and self-identity.
To answer the question of whether identity is created or given to us I have used two different sociological approaches, structural and social action. In my conclusion I would like to mention one last theory by Anthony Giddens who incorporates both structure and agency in his theory. Giddens believes that there is a complex interplay between structures in society and our social action as agents:
‘A double involvement or interdependence in which human beings create society and at the same time are created by it….sometimes referred to as a dialectical relationship’.
(Bilton, Bonnet, Jones, Lawson, Skinner, Stanworth, Webster 2002 p.18)
I agree with this view that the process in which my identity is created is a result of social structures and human creativity interacting rather than them being separate. As C. Wright Mills observed:
‘Every individual lives, from one generation to the next, in some society…he lives out a biography, and…he lives it out within some historical sequence. By the fact of his living he contributes, however minutely, to the shaping of his society and to the course of its history, even as he is made by society and by it’s historical push and shove’.
(Mills, 1970 p.12)
Bibliography
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