Historical view of identity

Question 1

List the four stages of Identity through history

Answer 1

Premodern societies (up to 15th): God-given identities

Enlightenment/early modernity (16th-18th): the distinct, rational identity

Industrialisation/urbanisation (19th-late 20th): the centred, fixed identity

Late modernity/postmodernity (late 20th-now): the decentred, fluid identity

Question 2

Define Premodern societies (up to 15th): God-given identities

Answer 2

• Identity came from the position you were born into, which reflected the will of God
• So a person’s identity was part of God’s scheme of living things

Question 3

Define Enlightenment/early modernity (16th-18th): the distinct, rational identity

Answer 3

• Rise of the distinct individual
• Descartes: ‘I think, therefore I am’ (the mind is distinct from the body, and from everyone else’s mind)

Question 4

Define Industrialisation/urbanisation (19th-late 20th): the centred, fixed identity

Answer 4

• Society became increasingly complex, based on organizations and structures that shaped the lives of individuals
• An individual’s identity seen as tied up with their membership of a particular social class, occupation, region, nationality etc
• Identity shaped by other people and social groups we belong to

Question 5

Define Late modernity/postmodernity (late 20th-now): the decentred, fluid identity

Answer 5

• Fragmented identities
• An individual possesses several, sometimes contradictory and unresolved, identities
• Unstable, a matter of choice identity shaped by media, symbols

Question 6

Where do theoretical perspectives fit into the chronology of the View of Identity?

Answer 6

• Functionalists and many traditional Marxists and feminists see identity as centred and fixed.
• Postmodernists, of course, see identity as decentred and fluid.
• Interactionists straddle the two: they identity as shaped by other people, roles and social groups, but not fixed – identity can change and can be resisted
• Some Marxists and feminists combine their traditional perspectives with interactionism, and so have a less deterministic view of identity than traditional Marxists and feminists.