Introduction: an ‘Identity’ wave

Talk about identity has become ubiquitous. The list of things that are said to have an identity is almost endless. The Introduction explains that identity is all about sameness and difference, but it’s not simple: ‘identity’ means different things to different people and in different disciplines. Identities are both things that must be explained and things that are invoked to explain. As the concept is understood nowadays, it is first of all rooted in the ideology of the French and American revolutions that celebrated the dignity and equality of the individual. This VSI does not concentrate on the different meanings of ‘identity’, but on why identity is important in so many different fields.

9. ‘They don’t speak our language’

‘ “They don’t speak our language”: identity in linguistics’ considers the relationship between language and identity. For individuals and groups, language has instrumental and symbolic functions, which can be in conflict with each other. The instrumental function of communication stands for inclusion, while the symbolic function of identity manifestation stands for exclusion. Language serves identity manifestation with regard to nation, region, social class, ethnicity (race), gender, and age. The respective linguistic differences can be highlighted or downplayed. Yet, on the level of individual expression in both speech and writing, language has biometric qualities allowing for highly reliable speaker identification.

6. ‘Your station in life’

Social identity is to do with membership in groups that are horizontally and vertically structured, internally and in relation to each other. Taken together these groupings constitute a society. ‘ “Your station in life”: social identities in our time’ explains how with the growth of the service sector, class divisions started to become less distinct and were supplemented by ethnic divisions. Consequently, the general understanding of social class is changing and, as economic inequality rises, the issue of social stratification and identity remains topical. Group identities are relational, resulting from the inclusion of peers and the exclusion of others. Reducing individuals to a single identity as members of a group amounts to discrimination and stigmatization.

5. Identity in politics

‘Identity in politics: promises and dangers’ concludes that identity in politics is a challenge to democratic rule rooted in the principle of self-determination. As a natural child of nationalism, it gives rise to conflicts that political scientists study at multiple levels. At the subnational level, the focus is on ethnicities and group affiliations. At the supranational level, they are concerned with civilization identities. Considering conflicts in terms of civilization identities is sometimes persuasive for there is the risk of stereotyping, while identities are historically contingent and can be instrumentalized for various political purposes. Because identities tend to be presented as non-negotiable, identity politics is hard to reconcile with deliberative democracy as it makes compromise difficult to achieve.

3. Given or constructed? Identity in cultural anthropology

‘Who are we?’ is just as tricky a question as ‘Who am I?’ Humanity is one, but at the same time divided into multiple groups. Humans exhibit many variations, notably race, language, and religion. These features constitute ‘ethnicity’, marking what seem to be clear distinctions; yet their usefulness for a coherent classification is limited. They are contingent, and hence subject to perpetual change, and they are vague, allowing for partial and shifting attachment. What is more, how we see ourselves often does not match how others see us. ‘Given or constructed? Identity in cultural anthropology’ considers the issues of ethnographic imagination, administrative classifications, ascription and assertion, voluntary attachment, stereotypes, and ethnocentrism.

Conclusion: The Identity of Identity

The word ‘identity’ suggests immutability, self-sameness, and permanency, while in fact it does what other words also do: it changes its meaning, now so rapidly that it is hard to keep track. ‘Conclusion: the identity of identity’ concludes that, on the individual level, identities have become a matter of negotiating and, as the need to do so arises, renegotiating your place, your purpose, and your presentation in everyday life. On the collective level, identities are fuzzy sets rather than clearly delineated groups. Yet, the assertion of, search for, and preoccupation with, identity keeps growing and invading ever more spheres of life. There are no indications that the identity wave is flattening.

4. Adam and Eve, Hijra, LGBTQs, and the shake-up of gender identities

Like race, gender seems to be an immutable element of our identity, while in both cases natural and socio-cultural determinants interact. ‘Adam and Eve, Hijra, LGBTQs, and the shake-up of gender identities’ explains that in Western societies, gender identities are being renegotiated. It exemplifies the fact that gender roles are subject to social norms, political power conditions, and economic exigencies. Inside (we) and outside (they) perceptions of identity are not always congruent. The present transformation of gender identities is not limited to women’s and men’s definitions of femininity and masculinity, but also involves recognition of LGBTQs who do not fit a two-valued logic of human sexuality. Modifications of established gender relations are likely to induce discrimination.

10. Who is behind the mask? Identity in literature

In literature, we can find all aspects and dimensions of identity: identity through time, the mind–body problem, the identity of words and things, gender boundaries, identity crisis, divided loyalty, mistaken identity, split identity, and the demands of modernity for individuals to have a national, social, and gender identity. ‘Who is behind the mask? Identity in literature’ provides a range of illustrative examples. In addition to substantial questions of identity, the art of literature is also concerned with identity in two formal ways. Style expresses the identity of fictitious characters as well as of writers. Finally, by creating fictitious worlds, literature constructs identity puzzles in its own right.

7. Citizenship, legal status, and proof of identity

‘Citizenship, legal status, and proof of identity: identity as a legal concept’ explains that individual identity is the cornerstone of the rule of law and the relation of state and citizen. In law, it has to do with that which makes a person (or thing) distinct from any other person (or thing). It means that a subject is the same as it claims, or is charged, to be. The digital turn has added a new aspect to our legal identity, and protecting us against identity theft is a new obligation of the state, while we have no choice but to learn to protect ourselves against profit-seeking corporations, on the one hand, and a surveillance state, on the other.

8. Selfhood and personality

‘Selfhood and personality: the psychology of identity’ considers how psychology deals with the question ‘Who am I?’. Rather than a fixed state, personal identity is an ongoing project. The individual forms his or her identity by identifying with someone or something. Individuals who are unable to reconcile competing personal and social demands may suffer an identity crisis, an experience once associated with adolescence, which, however, in recent decades has been linked to mental troubles in adult life stages, too. Personal identity is something we are, something we have, and something we act. We perform acts of identity following culture-specific stage directions that leave room for individual expressivity.