Sociology... So What?

From what I have gathered after reading the various materials is that forming one's identity is a complicated matter. Everyone goes through two main "stages" of developing an identity. The first called primary socialization and the second called secondary socialization, referring to the process of absorbing societal norms and truths via one's family and later peers, media, etc. respectively. In addition, an individual cannot ignore his surroundings and its history, because even that can have an affect on the shaping of his "self." Furthermore, if someone can critique himself through another person's perspective, he has the ability to build upon his "self" and possibly become a better individual.

We Are Who (They Think) We Are

 "The self is something which has a development; it is not initially there at birth, but arises in the process of social experience and activity."  

- George Herbert Mead

Forming an identity is more complicated than one might think. It not only has to do with the individual, but also society as a whole. Indeed, every person is unique in his traits, but it is the process by which he accumulates those characteristics that is the most important in developing an identity. It might be important to first try to define what “identity” means. An identity is what separates one individual from another in a society. In addition, a person’s identity not only has to do with how he perceives himself, but also how society views him. Therefore, identity is created as people grow older and absorb cultures and norms not only from a local viewpoint, but also from a global perspective.


The most crucial stage in shaping a person’s identity is during his childhood. Throughout this time, a person learns what his societal norms are and what he should and should not do. Also, a person is not born with an identity, but as he ages, he takes what he is given and shapes that to make it his own. Of course, a child’s parents play an important role in helping to create their child’s personality, since “every individual is born into an objective social structure within which he encounters the significant others who are in charge of his socialization,” (Berger and Luckmann 34). Much of what the child understands of the world he is placed has to do with the information taught to him from his parents, or in this case, his ‘significant others.’ Also, “patterns of child rearing and discipline, together with contrasting values and expectations, are found in different sectors of large-scale societies,” (Giddens, Duneieir and Applebaum 73). Not only does parenting take a key role in integrating societal norms into a child’s life, but also does the society’s location, affecting what values a parent believes are important for their child to learn to survive.


A person does not stop forming his identity after childhood. Instead, it is when he can view himself through another person’s perspective that he can continue to understand who he is. To do this, the individual “becomes an object to himself only by taking the attitudes of other individuals toward himself within a social environment or context of experience and behavior in which both he and they are involved,” (Mead 26). Perhaps people should do this to help create an identity to stand out from a possibly more uniform society. Not only are people encouraged to be critical of themselves from the perspective of their won society, but different ones, as well, to adapt to many situations. People can “divide [themselves] up in all sorts of different selves with reference to [their] acquaintance,” (Mead 28). This is important because people are not expected to treat different groups of people the same; for example, one would not act the same in the workplace as one would with friends. In a sense, people can “morph” their personalities to adapt to a new social situation, almost as a survival technique.

To properly form an identity, it is significant to understand that societies all over the world affect each other. A societal problem in the United States can affect the economical state of another on the other side of the globe. Sometimes, it is important to “open our eyes to the fact that our interdependence with other societies means that our actions have consequences for others and that the world’s problems have consequences for us,” (Giddens, Duneieir and Applebaum 10). Sometimes is it more difficult to solve a person’s individual problem without first trying to understand it as a global issue. Everyone and his own society have an impact, and essentially, the breakdown of a community in one nation can cause a chain reaction in many more to come.


Of course, if nothing else, an individual’s interpretation if his experiences is the essence of building an identity. Without experience, there is no foundation to build character, or as Mead describes, a “self.” It is there fore vital that “the self, as that which can be an object to itself, is essentially social structure, and it arises in social experience… But it is impossible to conceive of a self arising outside of social experience,” (Mead 27). Without social interaction, one cannot extract what is right and wrong and what qualities he finds important to encompass. Furthermore, everyone interprets the same social experience differently, reflecting how our own characteristics interpret these interactions. Therefore, “one must … distinguish between the experience that immediately takes place and our own organization of it into the experience of the self,” (Mead 25). Each person is shaped by what he deems important in any social relation.


If identity did not require such elaborate societal interactions, perhaps even the most simple-minded animal could have intricate personalities. It is the fact that people are able to understand such complex processes that they can develop unique identities.