INT1050 Dimensions of Self and Society

Introduction

The concept of personal identity within society refers to the position or the category to which a person belongs. This identity is the main reason behind the flourishing of a person in the proper manner. The roles within the society for the individuals and their ranks within the society are highly responsible for their status. The social policies and practices are significant elements in the society that will determine the impact of social institutions on several individuals (Albarello, Crocetti, and Rubini: 692). This paper will focus on the role of social identity in society and the role of social structures. These social structures will help up to shape the personality development of several individuals within the society. The role of power and status within the social periphery will also be determined properly in this perspective. The agents of socialization in the social perspectives will also be analyzed for the betterment of individuals.

Socialization Into Role

The role of the individuals in the socialization process is an integral one. Through this process, the overall personality of an individual is properly shaped. There are several identities that a person plays throughout his or her life. These identities are integral for the persons in this scenario. Several theories could be attributed to this scenario regarding the development of human identities (Albarello, Crocetti, and Rubini: 692). The three stages of development theory by George Herbert Mead is one of the most necessary theories which could help to critically analyze the personal identity of human beings from his birth. Mead has defined the personal development of individuals at different levels. Some of the activities that could be seen during these times are imitation, play, and games. All of these activities would help to determine the role of individuals that would guide them towards the socialization process.

After these children develop all the stages, they will be able to get an idea about the self in particular. To develop the idea of the self, one has to understand the impact of their identities in society. The values of the society are significant in this issue these stages will occur from the beginning of infancy among the children (Albarello, Crocetti, and Rubini: 692). Social institutions are crucial for the understanding of society and they will provide enough insight into the role of social institutions. The roles of the individuals within the social institutions through the above-mentioned stages. The policies of the institutions should always evolve based on the play stage and game stage (Pan, Gruber, and Binder: 214).

According to Mead, this process of socialization will go through these stages and it will need lots of time. In the first stage of the socialization process, children try to imitate the actions of all their elders though they do not understand the meaning. During the play stage, the child plays different roles. This can be a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, a postman, or any other. Thus, an idea grows within his mind about society. A sense of interest grows within his mind and it helps him to choose some particular professions in the future. In the third stage of the game stage, the child learns to engage with other types of works and he can also respond to these challenges. The internalization of the attitudes within the self would be very crucial to understand the predictability of the self (Pan, Gruber, and Binder: 214).

The objective part of the self would be very important for the ideas within the human mind and its several attributes. The self of human beings could be much introspective. This will lead to the betterment of the self-identities of all the persons in society. The social roles of the individuals will depend on the identities that he has perceived throughout his life (Haslam and Reicher: 27). These roles will be encouraged by the people within the families. People surrounding these children will be regarded as the best motivators for them to choose a particular role in society. The attributes of the personal identity will make one completely different from the other (Kerrigan and Hart: 1703). Though a person might have similar social roles, their differences could be understood through their overall social identities.

Performing the Role

The performing process of the roles is very important to understand the significance of these individuals within the society. The role of a lawyer can be described here in detail so the influences on the persons can be understood properly. A lawyer has several roles within the society and they have to perform them. The social identity of a lawyer is performed by a person when he believes in justice being served at different times (Haslam and Reicher: 27). This will always be one of the most critical aspects in understanding the role of these lawyers. They will have a sense of justice from childhood only. They will feel the impact of the legislative system in society so they can give justified outcomes for all the needy persons.

The dramaturgy theory of Goffman helps to give an idea of the reality and identity of human individuals in particular. This idea of the theory highlights the issue that the life of individuals is a play that never ends (Crocetti, Prati, and Rubini: 27). People are only the actors and they have the responsibility to perform their roles effectively. In this scenario, the role of the lawyer is to show different perspectives when he saves innocent people from the grasp of the law. He can also play different roles as a policeman or others so his position can be strengthened in the entire society (Trepte and Loy: 11).

Social Structure and Power

The role of the social structure and power is indeed significant to understand the identities of human beings. The social structure shows that all the people in the society have occupied some special positions within the society. This position will influence them to provide better outcomes for the wellbeing of society in particular (Lannegrand-Willems et al: 736). The social structures will help them to understand the roles of people to which they are entitled to. The social networks will always enable the individuals to know about their roles and how they could deal with them. The expectations of the people in different roles will exclaim their responsibilities also (Haslam et al: 637).

The shaping of identities will rely on how the individuals deal with gender roles, ethnic clashes, and other challenges within the society. The impacts of religion will play a major role in the distribution of power within the society as well. The social identities of human individuals will depend on the disabilities and religious beliefs of people (Scheepers, Daan, and Naomi Ellemers: 137). The sources of power will depend on how the gender relations are properly perceived among the individuals. The structural influence of society will convince individuals to go through different responsibilities (Hogg: 12).

Conclusion

In the concluding section of the paper, it can be said that the social aspects of individuals must depend on the ways social structures are designed. These aspects must be highlighted through the social structures and using the development theories. The stages of development among the people should be noted as a primary aspect in this scenario. Both the personal and social identities will shape the gestures of human beings and help them to grow a proper human individual based on social influences and his roles in the surrounding society.

References

Albarello, Flavia, Elisabetta Crocetti, and Monica Rubini. "I and us: A longitudinal study on the interplay of personal and social identity in adolescence." Journal of youth and adolescence 47.4 (2018): 689-702.

Crocetti, Elisabetta, Francesca Prati, and Monica Rubini. "The interplay of personal and social identity." European Psychologist (2018).\

Haslam, Catherine, et al. "Life change, social identity, and health." Annual Review of Psychology 72 (2021): 635-661.

Haslam, S. Alexander, and Stephen D. Reicher. "Rethinking the psychology of leadership: From personal identity to social identity." Daedalus 145.3 (2016): 21-34.

Hogg, Michael A. "Social identity theory." Understanding peace and conflict through social identity theory. Springer, Cham, 2016. 3-17.

Kerrigan, Finola, and Andrew Hart. "Theorising digital personhood: a dramaturgical approach." Journal of Marketing Management 32.17-18 (2016): 1701-1721.

Lannegrand-Willems, Lyda, et al. "How is civic engagement related to personal identity and social identity in late adolescents and emerging adults? A person-oriented approach." Journal of youth and adolescence 47.4 (2018): 731-748.

Pan, Nettra D., Marc Gruber, and Julia Binder. "Painting with all the colors: The value of social identity theory for understanding social entrepreneurship." Academy of Management Review 44.1 (2019): 213-215.

Scheepers, Daan, and Naomi Ellemers. "Social identity theory." Social psychology in action. Springer, Cham, 2019. 129-143.

Trepte, Sabine, and Laura S. Loy. "Social identity theory and self‐categorization theory." The international encyclopedia of media effects (2017): 1-13.

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