Examining Our Own Culture and Identity
Personal and Social Identities
Identity is defined as “the distinguishing character or personality of an individual.” While the Merriam-Webster dictionary’s definition of identity seems simple, the actual concept of identity is anything but. The culture of any given society determines the possible identities available to its members and which of those social identities carry cultural capital.
Psychologist Beverly Tatum, said this about identity:
“The concept of identity is a complex one, shaped by individual characteristics, family dynamics, historical factors, and social and political contexts. Who am I? The answer depends in large part on who the world around me says I am. Who do my parents say I am? Who do my peers say I am? What message is reflected back to me in the faces and voices of my teachers, my neighbors, and store clerks? What do I learn from the media about myself? How am I represented in the cultural images around me? Or am I missing from the picture altogether?” (2000).
Each of us has unique identities that are an amalgamation of our core traits and beliefs; our chosen attributes like religion, political party affiliation, occupations and jobs, sports teams and fandoms, interests; and our given characteristics including race, ethnicity, sex assigned at birth, age, physical appearance, ability and disability (Tajfel, 1979). Our identities are complex and shift over time as we learn new things, have new experiences, and encounter new people and ideas.
We all have a personal identity (how we see ourselves) and a social identity (how others view us). Social identities are created based on the norms and values of the society in which we live. All our given characteristics become a part of our social identities as these categories were made up as a way to categorize members of our society. Each social identity carries with it both the culture of that identity and the cultural expectations that society places on that identity. As you recall from Ibraheem’s statement about his and his family’s identity, the context of where he is and who he is talking to changes how he names his identity. He always sees himself as African but knows that others categorize him as African American. In some situations, he just takes on that identity because it is the social identity others attribute to him.
One example of how social identities impact our views of ourselves is the way that the prevailing view in the United States is that men are better at math and science than women correlates with significantly fewer girls and women seeing “good at math” as a part of their identity. When asked, very young children identify themselves and their same-gender peers as good at math. Then, as girls become more aware of society’s views of gender stereotypes, many of them lose confidence in their math abilities. Teachers begin to show implicit biases about boys having better math skills than girls starting in kindergarten (Copur-Gencturk, et al.,{year? 202?). Despite seeing themselves as good at math in preschool, most girls no longer hold “good at math” as part of their personal identities by second grade. By the time girls get to college, they are significantly less likely to see themselves as good at math. Girls make up only about a third of STEM majors in college despite making up 56% of college students (Cimpian et al., 2016).
Another example of how social identity impacts personal identity came up in my research interview with Ibraheem, one of the parents I interviewed when preparing to write this book. Ibraheem was born in Nigeria and immigrated to the United States as a child. At the beginning of the interview, I asked him about his identity. He answered, “Well, I’m African—a first-generation immigrant. The mother of my children, she’s African American. I’m guessing African American would be the umbrella term for us…it depends on the situation. I’m African American, I do know that, but in some situations, I like to say that I’m African.” We went on to talk about how people in the United States see him as African American, so he often uses that description of himself.
