1.4 Social Identities, Social Constructions, and Families
1.4 Social Identities, Social Constructions, and Families
Elizabeth B. Pearce
In this section we will start by exploring social identities. Then, we will analyze the ways that socially constructed differences contribute to the ways that individuals and families experience power, privilege, discrimination, and oppression.
Social Identities
Families are made up of individuals, and each individual possesses a unique identity (figure 1.16). An identity consists of the combination of individual characteristics, social characteristics or identities, roles, and relationships with which a person identifies. Let’s break down each of those aspects of social identity:
- Individual characteristics are integral to a person’s values, beliefs, and motivations.
- Social characteristics or social identities can be biologically determined and/or socially constructed. Sex, gender, race, ethnicity, ability, age, sexuality, nationality, first language, and religion are all social characteristics.
- Roles and relationships indicate the behaviors and patterns used when interacting with others, such as parent, partner, sibling, employee, or employer.
The social identity wheel in figure 1.17 includes some common categories for social characteristics in the middle oval. When it comes to social identity, each of us gets to determine our own. That means we determine which of our social characteristics, roles, and group memberships are most important to our own identities. While each of us gets to determine our own social identity, it is important to note that others may identify us differently than we identify ourselves. Our most notable physical aspects may signal something different than our personal lived experience.
For example, in this video about cultural humility (which will be defined and discussed in the next section), Dr. Melanie Tervalon describes her identity as an African American woman, the difference between how she sees herself and how others see her, and the right that each of us has to our own social identity (figure 1.18).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16dSeyLSOKw
The multiracial founders of Mixed in America (MIA), Jazmine Jarvis and Meagan Kimberly Smith, have a mission to empower the Mixed community and heal Mixed identities. Take a few minutes to read the first two paragraphs on their webpage here. This is what they had to say about the expression of social identity on Taylor Nolan’s podcast, Let’s Talk About It: “We wanna put the power back in the person’s hands so that they can express in a way that makes them feel authentic” (Nolan, 2020).
According to the social identity theory formulated by Henri Tajfel, we see people who are members of different groups as “others” (McLeod, 2019). In general, we tend to be drawn to those more similar to ourselves, whether by appearance or related to other social characteristics, such as age, ability, or sex. This—in combination with the likelihood of overestimating the similarities within groups and the differen