Identity

Question 1

What is self-identity?

Answer 1

The empirical self reflects all the different ways we think about ourselves

Question 2

What are the different components of the empirical self?

Answer 2

Material self
Social self
Spiritual self

Question 3

What is the social self?

Answer 3

The social self refers to how we feel that we regarded and recognised by others

Question 4

What are the proposed 5 types of social identities?

Answer 4

1. Personal relationships
2. Ethnic religion
3. Political affiliation
4. Stigmatised group
5. Vocation

It is believed that people will behave differently within each different context when their social identity changes

Question 5

What is the spiritual self?

Answer 5

The spiritual self refers to our inner psychological self.

The spiritual self is everything that is ‘me’ or ‘mine’ that is not tangible

Question 6

What characteristics are related to the spiritual self?

Answer 6

1. Perceived abilities
2. Attitudes
3. Emotion
4. Interests
5. Traits

Question 7

What is self concept defined as?

Answer 7

a dynamic collection of self representations that are formed through personal experience and interpretation of the environment

Question 8

How does a person’s self-concept change?

Answer 8

It will change as they experience different relationships with their bodies, families and wider society (Ellis-Hill, 2010)

Question 9

What is self-identity?

Answer 9

Identities are not just about individuals and reflexivity, they are also related to practice, or what we do.

e.g. roles, responsibilities, expectations

Question 10

What does identity being relational mean?

Answer 10

They do not exist in isolation, they are about others and in relation to others:

Other people
Places and things
Wider social structures

Question 11

What is our habitus?

Answer 11

A set of norms and expectations unconsciously acquired by individuals through experience and socialization as embodied dispositions, predisposing us to act improvisationally in certain ways within the constraints of particular social fields.

Question 12

What shapes our habitus

Answer 12

Social class.

This is in part because what we see as normal and lies is developed on the basis of what is actually available to us, and what we can afford.

Question 13

What does class position play a key role in shaping?

Answer 13

Physical capital (how we look, dress, present ourselves)

Social capital (who we know and socialise with)

Question 14

What is the significance of our physical and social capital?

Answer 14

They become integral parts of how we feel about ourselves and how we distinguish ourselves from others

This is why it can be upsetting if it is challenged.

Question 15

What are some examples of inequalities in relation to identity?

Answer 15

Class based inequalities
Gender inequalities
Ethnicity inequalities

Question 16

What are some rights and obligations of the ‘sick role’?

Answer 16

Not obligated to fulfil normal social obligations.

Not held responsible for their illness

Should want to get well and seek medical help

Question 17

How does illness and disability disrupt one’s life trajectory (biological disruption).

Answer 17

Taken for granted assumption and behaviours

Disruption to intimate relationships, career and personal development

Can lead to ‘loss of self’

Question 18

What are some stigma’s surrounding illness?

Answer 18

After diagnosis, encouraged to conceal their condition

Feel ashamed and strategies to present themselves as ‘normal’

Need to justify oneself

Meeting social expectations

Question 19

What did Smith and Anderson (2018) research discover about experience of inequalities and individua responsibility?

Answer 19

Found that people who are living with socioeconomic disadvantage already have a good understanding of the links between socioeconomic hardship and ill-health.

They are reluctant to explicitly acknowledge health inequalities which indicates an attempt to resist the stigma and shame of poverty and poor health and reassert control

Question 20

What is the importance of understanding changes to a person’s self-identity?

Answer 20

Shown in areas of rehabilitation such as people who have severe head injuries or spinal cord injury and people who have had a stroke