...Justin Nguyen Mrs. Williams English 1 Honors/ Period 3 4 November, 2014 Social and Cultural Identity: How it can shape us. Erik Erikson once said, “In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity.” I believed that Erickson wanted us to know that everyone should have an identity either socially or culturally. Social identity distinguishes you from everyone else by what you say and what you do. Cultural identity also paints an image to others about how you are excited about a culture or a belief and how you will interact with it. Experiences are important to us because it is something that allows society to see both of your identities. My experiences are similar to Beneatha in A Raisin...
Words: 1245 - Pages: 5
...Consequences of Social Categorization and Social Identity Theories Vernon Smith BA426 Managing Cultural Diversity vsmith003@regis.edu Consequences of Social Categorization and Social Identity Theories Introduction In the modern world, workforce diversity has developed to be among the most imperative elements. Many organizations including Apple Inc. and all over the world have employed diversity managers to help develop effective workforce diversification (Podsiadlowski et al., 2013). The increased interest in workforce diversity is not surprising. As organization move to develop organizational structures including teams and groups as well as multinational workforce, effective communication within diversified workforce becomes imperative for smooth functioning of organizations (Podsiadlowski et al., 2013). Diversity is often described in the context of the beneficial aspects of variety in the workforce. However, the definition of diversity still remains unclear. Van Ginkel and Homan (2013) state that the debate on diversity mostly confuses various forms of a variety of workforce. One way to achieve workforce variety is through social categorization, where group membership is determined by mutual characteristics such as race, sex, age, gender, and status. Legal provisions on diversity have continuously emphasized the creation of representative social categorization approach in the workforce of an organization (Podsiadlowski et al., 2013). In this context, the workforce demography...
Words: 1929 - Pages: 8
...Does social media shape our identities? Some people believe that social media brings many positive to our lives. While others believe it is full of negativity. Social media impacts our identities by influencing internal and external forces within ourselves and the environment, self-esteem, and causes many psychological concerns. Our self-identities are how we view ourselves as individuals. According to Jim Taylor a professor at the University of San Francisco, self-identity is gained in two ways. One-way identity is gained is by evaluating our own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors based on experiences, current needs, and future goals (Taylor 2011). Second, self-identity can be gained by observing the environment that surrounds...
Words: 1053 - Pages: 5
...I am a middle aged white man who is a son, a brother, a husband, a parent, a college student, and a paramedic. I am an American who is part of the lower middle class, but I came from a working class family. My social identities are many and to single one out may prove to be difficult because they all interact with one another in some fashion. I could not become a parent without being a man, or a brother without being a son. If I were to choose just one identity that is important to me, it would have to be that I am a parent. Like many parents, I share the same worries, the same proud parent moments, and the same love for my children. Like many boys of my generation I was fascinated with Matchbox cars, soldier figures, fire trucks and BB guns. If I fell and scraped my knee I was not consoled but rather encouraged to “shake it off.” This is in contrast to when my sister would fall and scrape her knee she was instantly soothed and doted over to ensure that she was going to be okay. Television shows such as Emergency! and CHiPs portrayed how men were the ones that performed dangerous tasks and were the ones who protected the community from dangers. During the summer my friends and I would mimic the motorcycle police officers from the television shows on our bicycles or pretend that we were Johnny and Roy from Emergency! Coming from a working class family, I was given freedom to play with my friends, but it was expected of me to not get into trouble of any sorts. If I were to violate...
Words: 1147 - Pages: 5
...Introduction People want to feel accepted and connected to other people. Even though everyone’s social lives look different, most people fear isolation and search for their social identity. The Social Identity Theory unpacks the process of gaining one’s social identity and explains the competitive trends between social groups. This paper will first give an in-depth summary of SIT that will be later applied to a movie example that connects directly to the theory. Lastly, I will share my interpretations of the movie and the Social Identity Theory through the lens of my application process. Summary of Social Identity Theory The Social Identity Theory is formed around people’s association with their social groups. A social group is defined as...
Words: 1572 - Pages: 7
...phone and explained that he never purchased anything from them, and she asked if he was who he said was, he said yes. The lady commanded him to pay the money as soon as possible or she would involve the police. Peter realized that he may have identity theft, and with that thought he never went back to sleep. "Identity theft occurs when an unauthorized person obtains another's name and a piece of critical identifying information about that person such as a credit card or bank account number, social security number or driver's license number. With these two pieces of information, someone can open credit card accounts in someone else's name and go on spending sprees for personal items or for things that can easily be sold. When bills are not paid, the delinquent account shows up on that person's credit report. The identity thief can change the mailing address on the victim's credit card account thus delaying the discovery of the theft. The imposter then runs up big bills on the victim's account, and since they are being sent to the new address, one would have no way of knowing any of this was going on” ( Poster, 119). Identity theft is one of the biggest and most costly crimes committed today. Every second of the day someone’s identity is stolen. This often results in a person losing almost everything including their most valuable asset, their name. However, who pays for all of the transactions and purchases? Who is the actual victim? What...
Words: 2766 - Pages: 12
...similarities and differences in the way identity is conceptualised by the psychosocial theory of identity and social identity theory. I will start this essay by explaining both theories, Psychosocial theory and Social Identity Theory mentioning what is understood by identity and answering my essay question describing their similarities and differences. Identity is a major area of study for Psychology. Over the decades many psychologists in the field tried to explain what identity was, and are still to explain how it is formed. Identity is what defines us as human beings, what we do on our day-to-day life, and our interactions within society. Psychosocial Theory Erickson viewed identity as a psychosocial process. A psychological assessment of ‘me’ and a social assessment of ‘me’. For Erikson, society where children and adolescents grow up would have an impact to their identity, therefore his theory was from point of view that identity was a psychosocial process. Erickson argued that we created our identity from a balanced, constant and reliable sense of who we are and what we are to our society, our group community (as cited in Phoenix, 2007, p.53). He developed the sense core identity where an individual would base all his identity building up from our past towards the future. Erikson believed an individual would take their identity for granted if life was good but to the minimal problem this identity would be questioned (e.g. illness or...
Words: 1896 - Pages: 8
...Anna Mangoyan Stephen Housepian ENG101 7/21/13 Social Media is stealing our Identity We are still excited by sharing our personal lives with social networks without realizing how we can be affected. Social Networks collect our identity, track our every movement, and can affect our future. Many people don’t understand that social networks collect our identity for their own business profits. We are having a good time by checking out our friends pictures and reading their thoughts and experiences online. If we think more deeply we will understand that there is something wrong. We like the fact that Facebook or other websites advertise our favorite stuff. For instance, I like to shop online and I always receive advertisement about fashion which was very entertaining for me. I was very excited to go to different websites and shop around. Now I am receiving so much junk emails and if I don’t delete them I will end up with two hundred emails a week. This is insane; every company sells each other our personal information to run their businesses. I feel that we are under control and we don’t have the same freedom anymore. Social networks track every movement we make. They are using us around the world by harming our lives. For example, I heard on the radio that now employers check our social networks before hiring us. They check our profiles and things we wrote online, which give them the idea whether or not to hire us. Moreover, credit card companies also do same...
Words: 607 - Pages: 3
...Social identity theory is a theory which is intended to explain how people develop a sense of belonging and membership in particular groups, and how the workings of intergroup discrimination work. Social identity theory plays an important role in the study of social psychology. To some degree, everyone is influenced by social identity theory. Social Identity Theory tries to explain such intergroup discrimination in the 'real world' as well as in the circumstance of the minimal groups. The theory claims a process of social identification and positive self-esteem, “People can boost their self-esteem through their own personal achievements or through affiliation with successful groups” (Kassin, Fein, & Markus, 2008, 150). When a person is a part of a successful group, their”in-group”, it influences their beliefs and values because it makes them feel good about themselves because being a part of that group makes them successful as well, it makes them feel as if they belong somewhere in this group and are an important part of it which leads to higher self-esteem. People may fear their out-group’s because one may not like the fact that they do not belong to this certain group and having a feeling of not belonging may lower ones self-esteem. “When people feel threatened by their own mortality, they tend to seek greater affiliation with their in-groups and exhibit greater prejudice against out-group’s, in part to reaffirm their sense of place and purpose in the world.” ” (Kassin...
Words: 1408 - Pages: 6
...Reflections 1 Social Identity Development: Jones, S. R. & McEwen, M. K. (2000). A conceptual model of multiple dimensions of identity. Journal of College Student Development, 41(4), 405-414. A diverse group of female students at a university was interviewed in examining multiple dimensions of identity to fill a gap in studying development which has only considered a single dimension of identity. The conceptual model proposed for complex identity differentiates the core representing the inner self, how an individual perceives themselves, with the outside identity that is defined by others. Each factual dimension surrounds the core as intersecting rings, asserting the importance of considering multiple dimensions mutually and holistically. The contextual influences are significant to continually relocate the dots on the rings, which...
Words: 1181 - Pages: 5
...Social identity theory (SIT) attempts to understand how social categorization affects intergroup behaviours (Tajfel and Turner, 1979). SIT is associated with a number of pioneering studies, most of which rely on the ‘minimal group paradigm’. In recent years, SIT has been explored with the use of additional types of study but I am going to discuss studies using the minimal group paradigm. Such studies are directly relevant to the evaluation of the theory and several have been instrumental in its development. SIT is based on a number of inter-related concepts: social categorization, social identity, social comparison and positive distinctiveness. Social categorization divides the social environment into ingroups (to which an individual belongs) and outgroups (to which the individual does not belong). Social identity is the part of our self-concept based on knowledge of our membership of one or more social groups. It is separate from personal identity – which is the part of our self-concept that derives from the way we perceive our personality traits and the personal relationships we have with other people (Turner, 1982). Whereas personal identity is associated with interpersonal behaviours, social identity is related to intergroup behaviours. Our social identity contributes to how we feel about ourselves, so we seek positive social identities to maintain and enhance our self-esteem. Positive social identities may result from the process of social comparison as we continuously...
Words: 1055 - Pages: 5
...PPL1021-Sociology An introduction to sociology our first lesson for this year 13th October 2011. We are going to be having the following lessons for this year: Individual identity and the social world: 1. Culture, Individual Identity and Socialization 2. Social Stratification, Identification and Mobility 3. Gender Issues 4. Deviance and Social Control 5. Poverty and Social Exclusion(15% of the population of Malta are below the poverty line) 6. Globalisation. Social Reality: The Analysis of the Social Reality Sociology is the study of the human behavior under the perspective of the social(relationship). Human behavior tends to satisfy basic human needs. Four basic types of human needs are: 1. Biological 2. Social 3. Psychological 4. Spiritual Human Needs: 1. Food and shelter 2. A sense of belonging to be felt accepted to receive warm and friendly responses 3. Help, support, protection and guidance(dependency) 4. Assert oneself over others and among others, the need to feel needed 5. Warm and intimate relationship: physical proximity, bodily contact 6. Self defence: manifested in aggression 7. Self-esteem and ego-identity: individuality Definition of Sociology: Sociology is the study of relationship and not the study of society is made of relationships. Discussion: A trip to Africa: I had never felt heat like this before. If this was northern Africa, I wondered what it must be closer to the equator...
Words: 1873 - Pages: 8
...Define the concept of social class identity Social class identity is the term used when referring to the differences social classes have, such as different cultures, norms and values. This is a very difficult term to be used in order to categorise an individual as social class can be subjective or objective. The government uses the objective view, based on the based on the economical status of the individual, to be able to identify them into a social class. However, the person’s subjective sense of identity, (what they think they are), may come into conflict or slightly differ from the objective view of the society It can be said that those who share a social class identity normally share the same socio- economic status in society, educational backgrounds, experiences, lifestyles and outlooks on life. There is some evidence to suggest that there are inequalities between social classes, in terms of infant mortality, mortality in general, life expectancy, type of futures (positive or negative) and their material wealth or possessions. Outline and explain two changes that have occurred in working class identity over the past thirty years Many changes have occurred in the working-class in the past thirty years. They have seemed to evolved in the way they see themselves and see their class. There seem to be two new groups that have emerged of the once united traditional working class. In the past the traditional working class was more involved in heavy industries such as mining...
Words: 1140 - Pages: 5
...How does fashion shape social identities? In my essay I am going to investigate the meaning and the relationship between these two words: fashion and identity, particularly in relation to social status. Fashion and identity both represent a complex notion, especially when we talk about their association. Nowadays, if we pronounce the word ‘fashion’, which has become one of the most common words in our society, we immediately think of clothes; what people wear in the streets or what the majority of people wear, or what the latest styles of clothes are that are in the stores. Originally, the concept of fashion emerged in Europe in the fourteenth century when the changing of styles of the clothes began to speed up. As Laver confirms: ‘The mid-fourteenth century marks the emergence of recognizable fashion in clothing’ (1979:62). But what is fashion? We could approach this question either in a simple or complex way. If we had to define it briefly, we would say that it is the latest style of clothing. As Rouse outlines: ‘Fashion is more than a commodity, the product of a particular industry, it is an attribute with which some styles are endowed. For a particular style of clothing to become a fashion it actually has to be worn by some people and recognized and acknowledged to be a fashion’ (1989:69). Apparently, the evolution of fashion is strongly connected to the development of society in the history. Several historical factors played decisive role in enabling society to change...
Words: 1357 - Pages: 6
...Social media is the prospect of communication that enhances, increase and supports the sharing of information through numerous array of internet based tools and platforms (Social Media Defined). This innovative form of media enables the internet users to transfer text, photos, audio, video, personal and social information. Some famous platforms would be Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are billions of profiles found in these platforms and this show that numerous amount people out there are quite active on social media. Lately, there have been issues that came up regarding fake identities on social media. Fake identity is intentionally forging your own identity or others for certain reasons especially in terms of personal. In 2010, a documentary titled “Catfish” brought a true story based on fake profiles on Facebook (Peterson, 2013) . New Schulman fall in love with a beautiful young woman’s Facebook picture and her voice over the phone, which turned out to be a middle-aged wife and mother. When asked the reason of her act, she mentioned that she was diagnosed with schizophrenia and she felt lonely. Schulman decided to turn the documentary into a show and reveal all online relationship fraud to create awareness on fake identities used on social media. In my opinion, fake identities should not be used on social media because it is a crime offence, it is not an ethical act to perform and much worst it creates unnecessary troubles for teenagers as they are the ones who are extremely...
Words: 1597 - Pages: 7
