Impacts of Social Identity on Individual Identity - Article Example

Impacts of Social Identity on Individual Identity Impacts of Social Identity on Individual Identity Introduction Human beings may share various similarities such as age, language or skin color but in reality each person is a unique being. The uniqueness that define each person or what one think of himself is referred to as individual identity (Halgin, 2). On the other hand, people are social being and in most cases categorize themselves in social groups, hence Social identity. Social identity is the sense of self that is derived from being a member of a certain social group. Social groups create a platform for people to position themselves, as well as, compare themselves with others. This greatly affects ones individual identity because one’s identity depends on the positive or negative evaluation of the entire group. Social identity contributes to ones sense of personal security, companionship, as well, as emotional attachment. For instance, if one belong to a minor ethnic group, such as Sonny’s case, or a culturally disrespected job such as Paul’s case. This paper will illustrate some effect of social identity portrayed in the Paul’s Case, and Sonny’s Blues stories, two young men struggling to find their identities. Paul’s and Sonny’s cases Paul’s and Sonny’s cases by Willa Cather and James Baldwin respectively, portray similar issues particularly on social identity and how Paul’s and Sonny’s identities have been impact by social identity aspects. Both have lost a family member and unlike in a normal family, they have grown in an incomplete family. Paul lost his mother in his early age and was left under the guidance of his dad. He, however, did not get along with his father to a point of avoiding him at all coast. The lack of connection between the two can directly be translated as lack of parental guidance to Paul. Sonny, on the other hand, lost both his parents and at an early age was arrested with neither the knowledge nor contacts of his only brother. They only got together when sonny came out of prison and his brother allowed him to live in his house because he had promised their mother to take care of him (Galinsky et al, 225). Their environment has greatly contributed in their choice of life, as well as, development of their self identity. The reason of sonny being in prison was his involvement in drugs and after getting out he started pursuing his dream of being a musician. Similarly, Paul wanted to be an artist, a dream that got him into trouble just like Sonny. He stayed out late in theaters and when he went home he sneaked into the basement and spent the night in fear of his father. Sonny’s brother is also not comfortable with Sonny’s choice of career because in the eyes of the society musicians are associated with drugs. Social categorization The sense of belonging to a certain social group may lead into categorizations of those groups according to class, power or resources. Categorization as a result of social identity can either be positive or negative. In the case of Paul Sonny, categorization has negatively impacted their lives. Paul struggles to separate himself from his family and community in order to fit in the category of theater artist (Halgin, 30). Each social group in different categories has its norms, beliefs, as well as, set behaviors that are bound specifically in that category. These categorizes dictates the sort of behaviors within a certain social environment according to its beliefs or norms. For instance, theater artist life is characterized by luxurious lifestyle, fashionable clothes, and parties. Categorizations based on social identity affects self-esteem because it is from the group an individual belong to, he or she drives his or her self- esteem. An individual identity dependant on social group could be either positive or negative. Association with a negatively impacting social group would lead to low self- esteem while a positively impacting social group would lead to high self- esteem (Halgin, 12). Due to Paul’s lack of parenting in his childhood, he lack of self- identity, values, norms and self- esteem he required to achieve and ended up killing himself. Therefore, self development greatly depends on the appraisals others of oneself. A person can only value the social environment depending on the responds he or she gets from others as a result of the social environment. Social stigma Stigma is the unfair and negative treatment towards a person meant to reduce or destroy him or her. Social stigma, therefore, is the negative attributers linked to a social group towards something (Galinsky et al, 221-224). This is evident when an individual receives or portrays traits whose social identity is diminishing in the society. Sonny’s brother believes that musicians are drug uses and that his brother choice of career is as a result of his history with drugs. Such negative thoughts towards musicians show Sonny’s brother dislike and alienation towards musicians. Additionally, the assumption among the Black Americans that drug go in hand with musicians is a social stigma towards musicians and those wishing to do music. Stigmatized personnel are normally disadvantaged to the extent of rejection which may lead to suicide. Paul being motherless and an overpowering father, he feels alienated. Additionally, lack of maternal care makes him feel left out and with time losses interest in school. Alienation reduces Paul’s ambition to failure then death. Career progression According to Halgin (22), in most cases regardless an individual qualification, well recognized social identities tend to get more prestigious job positions compared to those without. Paul could not manage to get a better job or become a theater artist due to his lack in education, well as, lack of recognized social identity. Additionally, benefits are also mostly given to those well recognized social identities. His habit of coming home late which is against his father’s sense of respect forces him to sleep outside. In the hiring process Paul is not privileged to get a dissent job in the hall back in his home town and even in New York he does not get his dream job. Considering ones behavior is influenced by social identity, social identity can be used in judging individual future behaviors by others. Sonny’s brother sees the possibility of Sonny going back to using drug due to his passion for jazz and his desire to be musician. Group-based emotions Attachment to a certain social group changes the sense of identity from self to group identity where one starts viewing him or herself as a group. This is referred to as undifferentiated emotional response which is in most case negative and would lead into undesirable action such as discriminating other, or abusive language. For instance, Sonny’s brother due to his relationship with his brother he does not want to believe that he uses drugs. He refers to Sonny as a good boy. This is a group- based reaction from the point of view sonny’s good behavior, respectful, kindness and obedience (Kuppens and Yzerbyt, 23-30). Although he had earlier suspected that he might be using heroin, he never took it into consideration. He claimed that Sonny was ever open with a bright innocent and could not understand how he had turned into nothing on his watch. This is a similar assumption in most societies today of associating innocent faces and good behaviors with holiness. Social Ethnicity Ethnicity is a situation characterized by a common origin and values that are transferred from generation to generation (Kuppens and Yzerbyt, 27). This values directly influences an individual’s identity while they are directly affect by social identities such family, community laws, and religion. Self identity is affected by ethnicity depending on the reaction of others towards the ethnic group. Sonny is a black American, a minor ethnic group in America. The author portrays the struggle and painful experience their family went through among the whites community as an oppressed community. Conclusion Clearly social identity greatly impact on individual identity where the society influences the environment surrounding an individual. Self-identity is defined by such aspect as families, religion, culture and ethnic differences. These aspects define a society ability to contribute to social identity which in turn impact self-identity. From the point of view of Paul’s and Sonny’s cases there are more negative social attributes that impact their quest for self-identity than the positive social attributes. Work citation Galinsky, Adam, Kurt, Hugenberg, Carla, Groom and Galen, Bodenhausen. The Re-appropriation of Stigmatizing Labels: Implications for Social Identity. Research on Managing Groups and Teams, 5, 221–256. 2003. Halgin Daniel. The Effects of Social Identity on Career Progression: A Study of NCAA Basketball Coaches. 2007. Kuppens, Toon and Yzerbyt, Vincent. Group-Based Emotions: The Impact of Social Identity on Appraisals, Emotions, and Behaviors. Basic and applied social psychology, 34:20–33, 2012. Read More