In: A Critical Introduction to Psychology ISBN: 978-1-53616-491-6
Editor: Robert K. Beshara © 2019 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 9
A CRITICAL DISCURSIVE APPROACH
TO IDENTITY
Neill Korobov*, PhD
Department of Psychology, University of West Georgia,
Carrollton, GA, US
INTRODUCTION
In my own journey with teaching the topic of identity in my
Introduction to Psychology courses over the last 15 years, using a variety
of different textbooks, I have repeatedly felt like there was something
missing. The standard socio-cognitive Eriksonian take on identity and
identity stages, though digestible and nicely packaged, felt too step-wise,
too linear, too cognitive, and too intrapsychic. Students, especially college-
aged, would of course perk up around relatable topics like ‘identity crises,’
though ironically I felt the conceptualizations themselves had a tinge of
foreclosure to them. They were too neat and tidy. What seemed missing,
for example, was the idea that something like an ‘identity crisis’ was more
- Corresponding Author’s Email: [email protected].