Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Identity is a rather loose concept which has various degrees of currency in a number of different disciplines. For example, Bosma et al. (1994) have argued that there is little consensus in the field of psychology about the phenomena to which the term identity might refer. They go on to suggest that, as a result, different definitions of identity not only have led to the development of different schools within psychology, each with its own theoretical and empirical traditions, but that scholars appear to know little about, or prefer to ignore, what is happening beyond the boundaries of their own school. There is not quite the same situation within sociology, where considerable theoretical and methodological developments of the concept of identity have occurred primarily in the sociological tradition of symbolic interactionism, in both the Chicago and Iowa schools, and where, according to Weigert et al. (1986) , the notion of identity has also had some limited currency in the sociological traditions of structural functionalism, critical theory, interpretive sociology, and the sociology of knowledge. The sociological concept of identity is broadly understood to include notions of “social identity,” “personal identity,” and “ego identity.” Social identities are those identities which tend to refer to the individual's position(s) in a social structure, understanding that various ... log in or subscribe to read full text