identities and discarding old ones. To illustrate these two points—dynamic and mul-
tiple identities—reflect on how you identified yourself in grade school, in high school,
and after entering college. As you grew older, you gained new identities and left
behind some old ones. For instance, after graduation from high school, you set aside
many of the identities you had and on entering the university, acquired new ones.
However, you also retained some of your previous identities, such as the regional
identity of your hometown and state. Perhaps you gave up your identity as a member
of a high school sports team or being in the band. In college you may have taken the
identity of a sorority or fraternity member, and in that case you also assumed the iden-
tity of the specific organization.
It should be clear that identity is not a single entity but a composite of multiple,
integrated identities; they do not work in isolation, but rather operate in combination
based on the social context or situation. For example, when you are in the classroom,
your identity as a student takes priority, but you are still a male or a female, a friend to
some of your classmates, perhaps an
employee, a son or daughter, and for some,
even a wife or a husband. Identities can
also be associated with the sports teams
you root for, your favorite genre of music,
and many other aspects of your social life.
To better comprehend people’sseemingly
countless identities, researchers have con-
structed taxonomies categorizing the different types. Turnerprovides three identity cate-
gories—human, social, and personal.^8 Human identitiesare those perceptions of self that
link you to the whole of humanity and separate you from other life forms.Social identities
are represented by the many groups you belongto, such as racial, ethnic, occupational,
age, hometown, and numerous others. Social identities are a result of being a member of
some social groups and nonmember of others (i.e., the in-group/out-group dichotomy).
Personal identityis what sets you apart from other in-group members and marks you as
special or unique. This form of identity can come from an innate talent, such as the ability
to play a musical instrument without formal training or from some special achievement,
like winning an Olympic gold medal. Personal identity can also come from something as
intangible as a gregarious personality.REMEMBER THIS
Identity is not a single entity. But rather it is a combination of
multiple integrated identities that operate in combination based
on the social context or situation.People have a number
of different identities
as they move through
life.© Taylor IngallsCulture and Identity: Situating the Individual 245Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).