How identity is made
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| identity | 身份认同 | shēn fèn rèn tóng |
| personal identity | 个人身份 | gè rén shēn fèn |
| social identity | 社会身份 | shè huì shēn fèn |
| socialisation | 社会化 | shè huì huà |
| roles | 角色 | jué sè |
| role conflict | 角色冲突 | jué sè chōng tū |
Nobody has just one identity
- Identity 身份认同 is how a person understands who they are, and it is built from several sources at once.
- Personal identity 个人身份 is what makes you distinct. Social identity 社会身份 is the groups you belong to.
- Which one is in the foreground changes with the situation, and noticing that shift is the unit's first skill.
Match each kind of identity to what it covers.
Which one is in the foreground changes with the situation, and noticing that shift is the skill.
Socialisation
- Socialisation 社会化 is how a person learns the norms of a group.
- Primary socialisation happens in the family and is largely invisible, because it teaches what seems natural.
- Secondary socialisation happens at school, among peers and through media, and it is more visible because it sometimes conflicts with the first.
Why is primary socialisation the hardest to notice?
It gives you your sense of normal, so it feels like a fact about the world.
Roles
- Roles 角色 come with expectations attached: student, daughter, teammate, employee.
- A person occupies several at once, and role conflict 角色冲突 is what happens when two make incompatible demands on the same evening.
- Roles are not a description of a person. They are a description of a position that a person is currently in.
A student has a match and a family dinner at the same time. What is this?
Two roles making incompatible demands on the same person at the same time.
One student, three identities in one day.
In class, a student — expected to be quiet and to answer when asked. At training, a teammate — expected to be loud and to take initiative. At dinner, a daughter — expected to be neither.
The behaviour changes completely and the person does not. That is what makes identity a social phenomenon rather than a personal trait, and it is what the research project has to be able to measure.
A student behaving very differently in class and at training shows they are inconsistent.
The person is constant and the situation is not. That is why identity is a social phenomenon.
Your own socialisation is the hardest to see. It taught you what "normal" is, so it feels like a description of the world rather than of your group — which is exactly why comparison across societies is the standard tool of this subject.
Do not treat a social identity as an explanation of an individual's behaviour. Group membership shifts probabilities; it does not determine what any particular person does, and writing as if it did is stereotyping with academic vocabulary.
In one sentence, say why "he did that because he is a teenager" is a weak explanation.
Example: "Being in a group changes how likely a behaviour is across many people, but it does not explain why this particular person acted."