Elaborate the meaning of ‘social identity’ and explain why the sociological analysis of social identity is characterized by complexity.
Elaborate the meaning of ‘social identity’ and explain why the sociological analysis of social identity is characterized by complexity.
Answer:
Social identity refers to an individual’s construction of whom they are, based on the groups they are members of. It refers to the perception of the self that individuals obtain from the different groups they ascribe to in their lives, which give them a perspective of who they are (McLeod, 2019). The groups that individuals belong to in life, their family, their social class, or the football team they support, bring a sense of self-esteem and give them an identity alongside a sense of belonging (McLeod, 2019). The concept of social identity leads to individuals’ capacity to distinguish between “them” and “us,” thereby creating an in-group and an out-group.
Sociological analysis of social identity is, nonetheless, characterized by complexity depending on how individuals gauge the impact of the different groups they belong to on their identity. As individuals always belong to a variety of groups, there may be significant overlaps between them, while at times, the groups may not converge (Roccas & Brewer, 2002). These alterations in how much the different groups overlap are what introduces some level of complexity in sociological analysis of social identity. An individual may advance that they belong to group A and group B, therefore framing these two groups as the source of their social identity, but this brings ambiguity. Complexity is introduced in that semantics may not differentiate whether the “and” implies the intersection of A and B, in the sense of convergent identities, or A and B as two separate groups, not fully convergent (Roccas & Brewer, 2002). Because of such ambiguity, the evaluation of self-reports may introduce confusion, alongside social desirability biases, as the degree of overlap between belonging to different groups is uncertain.
References
McLeod, S. (2008). Social identity theory. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
Roccas, S., & Brewer, M. B. (2002). Social identity complexity. Personality and social psychology review, 6(2), 88-106. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0602_01
