Describe Any One Approach to Identity. Discuss How This Approach Can Help Explain the Identities of People with Disabilities.
Describe any one approach to identity. Discuss how this approach can help explain the identities of people with disabilities.
Identity has been defined as, "a person 's essential, continuous self, the internal subjective concept of oneself as an individual" (Reber,1995, p.355). Identity is a complex field and, as a consequence, psychologists have devised a number of theories to help people to understand it. This essay will describe an approach to identity called Social Identity Theory (SIT) which was developed by Henri Tajfel and his colleagues (Tajfel,1978). It will then move on to a discussion of how this theory can help to explain the identities of people with disabilities.
Tajfel’s interest in identity was driven by his desire to understand prejudice. SIT, the theory he was at the heart of developing, sets out to explain, “the social processes by which people come to identify with particular groups and separate themselves from others” (Phoenix, 2007, p.62).
Tajfel separated identity into two, with a personal and social component. Of these two, he concentrated on people’s adoption, or development of ‘social identities’. He defined social identity as, “that part of an individual’s self concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership of a social group (or groups) together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership.” (Tajfel, 1978, p.63). Phoenix sees our social identities as mostly being composed of ‘self-descriptions’ that come from the characteristics that we believe are significant to the social groups to which we belong (Phoenix, 2007, p.62).
Tajfel’s work considered the part that ‘categorization processes’ played in the definition of identity (Robinson, 1996, p.101). Tajfel argued that even under ‘minimal conditions’ people categorize themselves and each other into social groups. In his now famous ‘Minimal Group’ experiments, he created a number of groups where the differences between the groups was
Identity has been defined as, "a person 's essential, continuous self, the internal subjective concept of oneself as an individual" (Reber,1995, p.355). Identity is a complex field and, as a consequence, psychologists have devised a number of theories to help people to understand it. This essay will describe an approach to identity called Social Identity Theory (SIT) which was developed by Henri Tajfel and his colleagues (Tajfel,1978). It will then move on to a discussion of how this theory can help to explain the identities of people with disabilities.
Tajfel’s interest in identity was driven by his desire to understand prejudice. SIT, the theory he was at the heart of developing, sets out to explain, “the social processes by which people come to identify with particular groups and separate themselves from others” (Phoenix, 2007, p.62).
Tajfel separated identity into two, with a personal and social component. Of these two, he concentrated on people’s adoption, or development of ‘social identities’. He defined social identity as, “that part of an individual’s self concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership of a social group (or groups) together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership.” (Tajfel, 1978, p.63). Phoenix sees our social identities as mostly being composed of ‘self-descriptions’ that come from the characteristics that we believe are significant to the social groups to which we belong (Phoenix, 2007, p.62).
Tajfel’s work considered the part that ‘categorization processes’ played in the definition of identity (Robinson, 1996, p.101). Tajfel argued that even under ‘minimal conditions’ people categorize themselves and each other into social groups. In his now famous ‘Minimal Group’ experiments, he created a number of groups where the differences between the groups was
References: Braithwaite, D. and Thompson, T (2000). Handbook of Communication and People with Disabilities: Research and Application. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Erikson, E. (1968). Identity, Youth and Crisis. New York: W.W.Norton & Co. Phoenix, A. (2007). Identities and Diversities. In D. Meill, A.Phoenix, & K. Thomas (Eds.), Mapping Psychology (2nd ed., pp.43-95). Milton Keynes: The Open University. Reber, A. (1995). The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology. (2nd ed). London: Penguin. Robinson, P. (1996). Social groups and identities: developing the legacy of Henri Tajfel, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Tajfel,H., Billig,M., Bundy, R.P. and Flament ,C.(1971) ‘Social categorization and intergroup behaviour’. European Journal of Social Psychology, vol.1, pp.149–77. Tajfel, H. (1978). Differentiation Between Social Groups: Studies in the Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations. (ed.) London: Academic Press.