Identity: basics
home >
publications >
on the web >
identity
There is no single thing corresponding to an identity.
But for any familiar situation, there is an interlinked set of relevant
entities.
- People
-
A group of people who know each other, when met together, tend to gravitate
towards familiar roles and behaviours.
- Settings
-
Any particular familiar setting
(physical place, surroundings, environment, conditions)
tends become associated with a set of behaviours, values, etc.
- Self-presentation
-
See Goffman.
One tends to adopt a certain self-presentation within any familiar situation.
This is expected to be consistent with the values in that context.
Self-presentation can cover such things as:
- dress
- body language
- speech: vocabulary, language, accent, tone, quantity
- behaviour indicative of role and values
Lack of a certain attribute can be as expressive as possession,
and people have different rules of interpretation of presentation,
partly based on stereotypes and commonalities.
-
These are potentially identifying features, which are cues or clues
for other people to see the role and values held at that time.
They may be part of self-perceived identity.
The presentation intention may not match the interpretation of
that presentation.
One person's presentation will depend on that person's
model of other people's presentation interpretation rules.
- Role
-
One's role tends to emerge out of interaction with a certain group of people
in a particular identity context.
It consists of rules of behaviour for any of the situations
habitually encountered when in that role.
However, one person's perceived role does not necessarily match
the role definition held by other people in that situation.
This will typically give rise to feedback and negotiation
until behaviour stabilises.
The giving of feedback is itself a behaviour that is subject to role rules.
-
In time, it can be said that a person "identifies with" a role in
certain situations.
- Behaviour in general
-
There may be behaviour norms for all people across sub-contexts of that
identity context.
- Values
-