There’s a tendency to assume that identity is a fixed ideal – something very specific rather something quite abstract, ambiguous and transient. It is perhaps significant that the word identity has a similarity with the word ‘identify’. As part of the process of understanding, human beings feel a need to classify, generalize and simplify other people’s appearance and personality traits - fix them …
There’s a tendency to assume that identity is a fixed ideal – something very specific rather something quite abstract, ambiguous and transient. It is perhaps significant that the word identity has a similarity with the word ‘identify’. As part of the process of understanding, human beings feel a need to classify, generalize and simplify other people’s appearance and personality traits - fix them in a stable and stabilizing identity. This can lead to cultural stereotyping where someone from a particular ethnic background is identified with its traditional cultural traits, often unwittingly …
