Passage One

Identity

1．The study of identity owes its initial impetus to individual and collectiveidentitycrisessetinmotionbythenationalistic global war．Although Emile Durkheim^[1]，Sigmund Freud，and George Mead^[2]provided important conceptual antecedents，the study of identity as a serious social science enterprise is largely a post-World War II development．Since its initial formulation in the writings of Erik Erikson^[3]in the mid-1940s，the concept of identity has come into use by many scholars from various disciplines，methodological orientations，and even political leanings．Andrew Weigert^[4]and his colleagues treat the concept as a bridge that links the psychological study of the individual and the sociological study of symbolic interaction．At the micro level，identity is the enduring source of human motivation and behavior，confirming what human beings imagine to be true about themselves，in their own eyes and in those of their significant others．The meaning of life is thus derived from individuals'interaction with significant others．At the macro level，identity is a deeper cultural code of personal meanings that relate the individual to the most general level of societal meanings．

2．Following Freud，psychologists have generally tended to study identity in terms of inner processes．The dynamic source of identity is attributed to a biopsychological drive in the individual self，not to a social system's need for stability and predictability，even if its enactment often meets societal needs for solidarity and collective action．Sociologists often conceptualize identity as shared beliefs and sentiments and also as enacted social roles and statuses that maintain the social order．It is what Durkheim called“collective conscience”—theglue，ororganic solidarity，of dissimilar individuals of the same community which“connects successive generations with one another”—that sociological theorists are most concerned with．Political scientists have generally studied identity as a political resource in state forming，nation building and modernizing，and democratic political processes．Some of them have applied role theory，a variant and corollary of identity theory，in the study of comparative foreign policy．Most recently，identity theory has found its way into international relations theory．In a pioneering work，William Bloom addresses the long-standing theoretical problem of aggregating from individual attitudes to mass behavior by applying identity theory both to nation building and to international relations．Identity theory postulates that:

1)There is a universal human biopsychological need for a sense of identity/difference sothatambiguitiesanduncertaintiescanbe minimized and human life rendered more meaningful and manageable．

2)The construction of identity to realize this sense of identity/ belonging begins with the establishment of the categories of self and other as mutually conflictive yet interdependent，each depending on andpartaking of the other(for although identity begins in differentiation，it cannot be confirmed and legitimized without internalizing the mores，symbols，and behavioral patterns of significant others)．

3)An identity is an ongoing negotiating process through the cycles of human life to enhance physical and psychological survival，security，and well-being，in the course of which the self attempts，especially in those problematic moments of ambiguity，to secure an identity that others do not bestow while others attempt to bestow an identity that the self does not appropriate．

4)Identity enactment is situation-specific;that is，threats to，and opportunities for the enhancement of，security function as catalysts for identity mobilization．

5)All identifications，from an individual nuclear family to the global system，are a series of relationships with positive or negative reference groups．

6)People with the same or shared identification generally tend to pool their resources to act in concert for the enhancement of their common identity．

Questions for Understanding

1．Why does the writer make a mention of those scholars such as Freud and Erikson in paragraph 1?

2．What are the two levels at which identity works as a source of human motivation?Can you elaborate it with your individual identity?

3．According to sociologists what role does identity play in a society?

4．Why do people have a biopsychological need?

5．Which one do you think might be the most important characteristicof identity according to the six theoretical postulations?