Concepts of identity and difference

This chapter looks at a number of different contexts in which questions of identity and identity crisis have become central, including globalization and the processes associated with global change, questions of history, social change and political movements. Identity is marked out through symbols; for example, the very cigarettes which are smoked by each side. There is an association between the identity of the person and the things a person uses. Identity often seems to involve essentialist claims about belongingness where, for example, identity is seen as fixed and unchanging. Some differences are marked, but in the process some differences may be obscured; for example, the assertion of national identity may omit class and gender differences. Identities are not unified. There may be contradictions within them which have to be negotiated. Changes are not only taking place on global and national scales and in the political arena. Identity formation also occurs at the &s;local&s; and personal levels.