The Construction of Identities

Privacy law is a field of law in which ideas about human identities have long played a prominent role. However, most modern privacy theories employing the notion of identity neglect one crucial aspect: human identities are social constructs and, as such, intelligible only if seen in their socio-historical context. The contribution evidences this historicity of human identities and shows that understanding the mechanisms determining the construction of identity in different historical eras can help us understand privacy law better too. To this end, the paper takes a close look at two milestones of privacy law: the 1890 article ‘The Right to Privacy’ and the German Constitutional Court 1983 decision on a ‘Right to Informational Self-Determination.’ It elaborates on the historically prevailing social mechanisms of identity construction, their conceptualisation in the social sciences and how they manifested in the legal sphere. The last section then turns to our present time and argues that current problematisations of identity are best understood through the notion of algorithmic governmentality. It explores different ways in which algorithmic governmentality might impede the free construction of human identities and gauges the extent to which the European Convention on Human Rights might be able to mitigate these risks.

This research employs a descriptive qualitative method, combining textual analysis with cultural and socio-cultural perspectives, to investigate the portrayal of social masks, identity construction, and resilience in Lualhati Bautista's novels, focusing on "Bata, Bata... Pa'no Ka Ginawa?" The study explores how selected characters navigate social roles, adopt personas, and engage in impression management within Filipino society. Through close reading and theoretical interpretation using Goffman's and Mead's frameworks, the research uncovers insights into the intricate dynamics of identity construction, social interaction, and resilience depicted in Bautista's narratives. Significant findings include resilience among characters and its intersection with identity construction and social interaction. Additionally, the study reveals the influence of cultural norms, historical events, and socio-economic factors on characters' identity construction and resilience strategies. It also highlights moments of authenticity, vulnerability, and resistance, analyzing how they challenge or reinforce social masks and identity performances. Overall, the research contributes to understanding the complexities of Filipino identity and resilience in contemporary society as portrayed in literature.

Given the ever-changing nature of contemporary workplaces, members often renegotiate how they view the identity of their organization. One way they do so is by expanding or contracting their conception of organizational identity. In studying these processes, we develop the construct of “identity elasticity”—the tensions that simultaneously stretch, while holding together, social constructions of identity. To explicate the parameters of elasticity, we problematize previous conceptions of the three foundations of organizational identity—centrality, endurance, and distinctiveness—and document the dialectic tensions experienced in their social constructions. We show how identity is experienced not only through a listing of attributes but also by negotiating a set of processual tensions. In so doing, we also bring together two competing views on organizational identity—process and characteristic. We show how experiencing and navigating the tensions of elasticity is a type of organizational identity work (process) that changes organizational members’ constructions of identity (characteristic). We develop our findings as a result of a 10-year-long multiple-method study of an organization undergoing significant growing pains in its identity—the Episcopal Church. Further, we position elasticity as a crucial construct with implications for how organizational identity is viewed.

The integration of religion and culture to build the discourse of social identity is an interesting issue. For Mamala, a village in the Moluccas, Indonesia, society consists of two embedded identities, namely religion and culture, in the construction of social identities. This research discusses religious and cultural integration in the construction of social identity by means of a flagellation ritual known as pukul sapu. This research applies qualitative methods to analyze qualitative data gathered through observation, in-depth interviews and document reviews. In particular, this research attempts to answer (a) why the pukul sapu ritual is performed by the Mamala community on the seventh day after Iedul Fitri, (b) how the ritual is carried out, (c) what elements are used in the ritual process, and (d) what meaning emerged in connection with the construction of their identity as Muslims and also as a society of customs. The research subjects consisted of a number of religious figures, customary figures, and people who are directed to participate in the review process of the ritual. This study shows that the ritual is regarded as a medium to construct the social identity (religion and culture). The integration of religion and culture in Mamala has proven that the social identity of this society includes religion and culture formed by dialectical processes, namely adaptation, relations, and negotiations between local traditions coupled with the influence of Javanese traditions. This, in fact, describes liquid social identity instead of static movement.

Bayramlar, toplumsal anımsamanın meydana geldiği önemli alanlardır. Aktarılan bilgi, deneyim ve geleneğin karşılığı olan kültürel bellek, bayramlar aracılığıyla geleceğe aktarılır. Bu aktarımda bayramların sahip oldukları işlevler toplumsal anımsamayı sağlar. 23 Nisan 1920’de TBMM’nin açılması uyanış hareketinin ve rejim değişikliğinin en önemli sembolüdür. Verilen mücadele ve meclisin kuruluşu bir sembolizm yaratır ve düşünceler sisteminin bir unsuru haline gelir. Bunun devamlılığı için de törenlerin kutlanması kararlaştırılır. Bu yüzden kuruluştan bir yıl sonra mücadeleyi meşrulaştırmaya yönelik olarak “Hâkimiyet-i Milliye Bayramı” adında bir millî bayramın kutlanması kararlaştırılır. Daha sonra 1917 yılında kurulan ve 1921 yılında da Ankara’da kurumsallaşan “Himaye-i Etfal Cemiyeti”nin çabalarıyla bu bayram çocuklarla anılmayan başlar. 1981 yılında da bugünkü 23 Nisan Ulusal Egemenlik ve Çocuk Bayramı” adına kavuşur. Bu bayram sahip olduğu politik işlevler, kültürün aktarımını sağlaması, kültürel ve toplumsal kimliklerin inşasına destek vermesi ve eğlendirme işlevi ile toplumsal anımsamayı sağlar. Millî iradeye meşruiyet kazandırması ve bu yolda verilen mücadelenin Türk çocuğuna anımsatılması bayramın politik işlevleridir. Bayramdaki icralar, Türk kültüründen taşıdığı izler, sürekli olarak “millî” değere yaptığı göndermeler, toprak ve vatan hassasiyeti, atalarla ilgili saygı tamamen Türklerin eski kültürlerindeki kült tasarımları ile ilgilidir. Bayramın sahip olduğu ortak simgesel sistemi kullanmak toplumsal kimliklerin inşasına destek olur. Okunan şiirler, düzenlenen yarışmalar, yapılan geçitler, sergilenen temsiller katılımcıların eğlenmelerini sağlar ve bir sonraki bayrama katılımcı sayısını artırır. Söz konusu bu işlevler toplumsal anımsamanın gerçekleşmesini sağlar.

The choreographer Deborah Hay calls this one of her core mottoes, in dance and in life. What does this instruction imply if taken for a maxim of performing citizenship? What advice can dance, the art of movement, offer to a body that, normally, is a citizen's body by virtue of reflexes, not reactions? A policeman shouts, 'Hey, you!' and you turn around. This movement suffices to define you as a subject, as one subjected to the state's authority, according to Louis Althusser (See, Louis Althusser (1971), 'Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses', in Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays, trans. Ben Brewster (New York: Monthly Review Press), pp. 121–176). To the extent that citizenship is a legal status, not an achievement or a competence, the only performative utterance demanded from citizens by the state's representatives consists of such small responsive movements of acknowledgment. The more automated, the more reliably locked into behavioral routines these responses are—the fewer signs of a true performance they show—the better, from a statist point of view. Disobedience, in this scenario, is left with only two alternatives. You either ignore the policeman and walk on; or you turn against him and engage in a confrontation—perhaps put up a fight. Police have been trained to deal with either form of insurrection.

This research explores narrative strategies and identity construction on social media in international communication about Chinese culture, representing a vital tool for advancing cultural stories and building digital identities. A quantitative research methodology was employed, using an online questionnaire survey as the main data collection tool. Data were gathered from a sample of 329 respondents, and the analysis was conducted using the SPSS software. The findings highlight that social media exerts a strong influence on the visualisation and global dissemination of Chinese culture. It enables Chinese users to form hybrid cultural identities and plays an essential role in making Chinese culture more comprehensible by amplifying its global impact through cultural framing. Furthermore, interactions between Chinese users and the international public reveal transformations in traditional Chinese cultural identities, where symbolic representation significantly shapes identity construction. The novelty of this study lies in its exploration of the intersection between social media, storytelling strategies and identity construction within Chinese cultural communication. The research provides new insights into dynamic cultural exchange and transformation in the digital age, contributing to the understanding of how technology-driven communication fosters intercultural dialogue and the redefinition of cultural narratives in global contexts.

The issue of identity becomes an interesting thing to discuss because identity is always phenomenal. Specifically, the identity problem discussed in this article is the construction of the Islamic identity of the Bacan Sultanate through the ritual of rejecting Balak. This research was conducted on the grounds that this ritual is a ritual that has an Islamic spirit but opens up space for non-Muslim communities to participate in it. Research questions that arise from this problem include: 1). How is the history and growth of Islam in the Bacan Sultanate? 2). How was the ritual process and what was its impact in relation to the multicultural facts of the people of the Bacan Sultanate? This research was conducted using qualitative methods with interview, observation and literature studies. The results of the study found that: 1). The exclusive and inclusive identity of the people of the Bacan sultanate is constructed through the ritual of rejection of balance, showing that identity is never static, but always dynamic or liquid. 2) The existence of dynamics in the process of identity construction as seen in the ritual of back and forth from the inclusive back to the exclusive emphasizes Berger firmly about the dialectic process in the construction of social identity (1994:4). 3). religion has a double face or has an ambiguous nature. The dimension of prayer in ritual is a means of exclusion and at the same time confirms the ambiguity of religion itself.

O presente estudo tem por objetivo apresentar, por meio de um estudo bibliográfico, uma análise antropológica dos rituais funerários exercidos em diversas culturas e sociedades, com o intuito de ilustrar como esses elementos guiam a construção da identidade cultural das sociedades aludidas. Discorre também sobre os variados tratos com o defunto, com o objetivo de possibilitar uma análise da estrutura cultural destas sociedades. É abordado ainda, a questão da morte como um acontecimento social, a morte como um ritual de passagem, como fator da construção da identidade social, a morte como começo de uma nova forma de vida. Discorro, também sobre o poder relacionado à morte enquanto fato social.

Using Pennsylvania State University’s responses to an identity threat, this article discusses the social construction of organizational identity as a negotiated outcome between various stakeholders. The authors propose four main characteristics of the social construction of organizational identity—intentional, temporal, relational, and external—that extend Ran and Duimering’s demarcation of two identity construction processes: the linguistic and the social construction. The authors also provide some guidance for public institutions, universities, or nonprofit organizations as they construct, maintain, and negotiate a positive identity in the context of threatening changes.

Müziği oluşturan seslerden çok o seslere yüklenen anlamların kimliğimizde nasıl bir karşılık bulduğu merak konusudur. Müziğin hem bireylerin ait olduğu sosyal kimlikleri tanımlayıp, ötekilerini ayırmada bir araç olabileceği hem de salt müziğin kendisinin bir grup yaratarak buradan bir sosyal kimlik inşasına zemin yaratabileceği araştırmalara konu olmuştur. Böylece müziğin hem bireylerin ait oldukları sosyal kimlikleri tanımlamada ve diğerlerini ayırmada hem de bir grup oluşturarak sosyal bir kimlik oluşturmalarında bir araç görevi görebileceği söylenebilir. Sosyal inşacı kuramsal bakış açısıyla müzik hem inşa eden hem de inşa edilendir. Literatürdeki araştırmalarda insanın kendisinden farklı müzikleri tercih edenleri bir dış grup olarak değerlendirdiği görülmektedir. Bu araştırmanın amacı, gençlerin sosyal kimlik bağlamında yerli 45'lik şarkıları dinleme nedenlerini toplumsal kimlik bağlamında araştırmaktır. Ayrıca araştırma, yerli 45’lik şarkıların tüketim biçimlerini, performans mekânlarını, zihinsel olarak hangi anlamlara karşılık geldiğini ve bunun sosyal kimliği etkileyip etkilemediğini de konu edinmektedir. Araştırma deseni olgubilim (fenomenoloji) olan bu çalışmada görüşme yöntemine uygun olarak, yarı yapılandırılmış sorular üzerinden toplanan verilere içerik analizi uygulanmıştır. Araştırma bulgularında, katılımcılar yerel 45'lik şarkılarının çalındığı mekanları en çok kafe (n=15, %39.47) ve bar (n=8, %21.05) olarak tanımlamış ve bu mekanların görünümü ile ilgili retro (n=6, %15.78) tasarım ifadesini kullanmıştır.Araştırma bulgularına göre; katılımcıların yerel 45'lik şarkıları dinleyen diğer kişilere nostaljisever (n=7, %20.59) ve açık fikirli (n=6, %17.65) gibi özellikler atfederken, bu şarkıları dinlemeyenlere en çok kaba ve saygısız (n=8, %14.54), bilinçsiz tüketici (n=10, %18.18), müzikten anlamayan (n=4, %7.27), önyargılı (n=2, %3.64), demode giyinen (n=3, %5.45), ezik (n=1, %1.81) gibi olumsuz sıfatlar atfettikleri görülmüştür. Yerli 45'lik şarkıları dinleyen kişilerin kendilerine benzer kişisel özelliklerini tanımlarken en yüksek açık fikirli (n=3, %13.04), saygılı (n=3, %13.04), ilgili ve meraklı (n=4, %17.39) temaları bulunmuştur. Katılımcıların yerli 45'lik şarkı dinleyicilerine atfettikleri özellikler arasında derin entelektüalite (n=2, %8,69) teması vardır. Onlarından kendilerine benzer özelliklerini anlatırken bu tür olumlu ve ortak göndermelerde bulunmaları dikkat çekici bir bulgudur. Öte yandan, katılımcıların diğerlerinin yerli 45'lik şarkıları sevmeme nedenlerine ilişkin yaptığı atıflar arasında, en yüksek anlamsız yaşam (n=5, %16,13) ve ön yargılılık (n=5, %16,13) temaları bulunmuştur.Katılımcılar ayrıca duygusal bağ (n=11, %2.44), nostalji (n=7, %15.56) ve kaliteli müzik (n=7, %15.56) tanımlarını da yerli 45’lik şarkıların çalındığı mekânın özellikleri olarak tanımlamışlardır. Bu mekâna gelen diğer insanlara da entelektüel (n=8, %14.03), hayatı bilinçli yaşayan (n=6, %10.53) ve dış görünüme önem veren (n=9, %15.79) gibi atıflarda bulunmuşlardır. Ayrıca diğerlerinin yerli 45'lik şarkılarını dinleme motivasyonlarına ilişkin atıflara bakıldığında, duygusal sebepler (n=12, %28.57) en sık görülen tema olup; diğerlerinin bu şarkıları tercih etmeme sebeplerini ise, anlamsız yaşamak (n= 5, %16.13) ve klişe bulmak (n=5, %16.13) şeklinde tanımlamışlardır.Bulgular, popüler müziği onu tüketenlerin kişisel anlamlarını yüklediği bir depo görevi gördüğünü göstermiştir. Ayrıca katılımcıların dinlediği şarkılara kişisel bir anlam yükleyerek özdeşim kurdukları ve kendilerinden farklı seçimler yapanları bu zihinsel özdeşleşmenin karşıt noktasına yerleştirdikleri gözlenmiştir. Dolayısıyla bu sonuçlar, müziğin hem aidiyet içeren kolektif bir kimlik taşıyıcısı hem de bir grup ile ötekiler arasındaki ilişkilerde norm koyucu rolünü üstlenen bir olgu olduğunu göstermektedir. Araştırmada elde edilen bu bulgular tartışma bölümünde sosyal inşacı kuram ve ilgili literatür araştırmaları çerçevesinde tartışılmıştır. Ayrıca sonuç bölümünde gelecekte yapılacak olan çalışmalara yönelik öneriler sunulmuştur.

Food consumption is being reconfigured as a consequence of consumers’ ethical concerns. While preferences and tastes may be influenced by broad ethical positions, constructions of social identity also reflect shifts in food consumption. Important tools within this nexus are ‘future foods’, produced through novel technologies such as artificial intelligence or genetic editing, supporting consumers in the construction of identity markers. Through 24 ( n = 121) focus groups in rural and urban Australia, we explore to what extent future foods contribute to alleviate tensions between broader ethical principles and consumer identities. We argue that the collective discourse around future foods has the potential to shift the culture of food ethics in the future, enabled through three moral identity markers. Specifically, identities of citizen-consumption that view ethics as ‘eating for change’; nationalism as a form of patriotic morality that encourages the consumption of national brands and protectionism; and nostalgic knowledge and historical identities of the past to reconfigure ethical ideals for the future. These discursive identity constructions shed light on how consumers may redefine food ethics in the future, legitimising citizenship through demonstrating virtue, patriotism as loyalty to social groups, and nostalgic capturing of history to ‘ethicise’ the future.

The construction of migrant population across India–Bangladesh borders is premised on cultural affiliation, religious sentiments and the contingent political economy. With a history of partition in different phases, the subjective conceptions of identity of migrants are layered and complex. The article unravels how identities of migrants are shaped in everyday life through the frame of legality–illegality, religious–political and economic–social aspects. Drawing on previous research and empirical engagement, the article engages with the questions on citizenship, residency, identity, belonging, exclusion and inclusion. The field work in the borderland district of North 24 Parganas provides rich description about the life and circumstances of migrants at the threshold of security and insecurity, belonging and unbelonging around layers of caste and communal tangle. The article presents a grounded understanding on the politics of documenting and phenomenon of maintaining undocumentedness. To explain the social construction of identity, the article explores the role of Hindu nationalist ideas that influences the negotiation of migrant populations around religious lines; either accepted, ignored, patronized or kept insecure, susceptible to fear and exclusion.

Regionalist Promises in State Social Identity Construction: The Rhetoric of Single Economic Space

Since democratisation of South Africa in the 1990s, the media has undergone change in a number of areas. Apart from the changes related to ownership, editorial staff and content, the media's position within society in general and in relation to government has also generated much debate. On several occasions these debates brought the media sector into conflict with the new government. This article argues that these debates have led to the emergence of a media discourse that also contributes to the construction of new social identities within post-apartheid South Africa. To illustrate this, some key statements on the role of the'media in post-apartheid South Africa made by the South African president and the ruling party during 2002–04 are analysed. The question put forward is whether these statements cannot only be read normatively, that is, as a way of repositioning the media within a new democratic society, but also have bearing on the construction of post-apartheid identities.