“IDENTITY” IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

• Main Author: N. L. Polyakova
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Publishing House of Lomonosov Moscow State University 2017-05-01
• Series: Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta: Seriâ 18, Sociologiâ i Politologiâ
• Subjects: identity; identification; reflexivity; modernity; individual; individualization; socialization; constructivism; postmodernity; symbolic interactionism
• Online Access: https://vestnik.socio.msu.ru/jour/article/view/228

The problem of identity has come to the fore of contemporary societies in the conditions when the institutional structures of these societies their ascriptive statuses have become looser when modernity is “liquid”, “soft”. Varions conceptualizations of identity are becoming a basic part of contemporary sociological theory. The paper aims to reveal the key problems that sociology faces when striving to work out a theory of identity. The paper takes as its starting point the classic notion of identity. This notion was shaped by Erik Erikson on the basis of his dynamic psychology. The paper proves that the contemporary identity is connected with the process of individualization in modern societies. Numerous and varied studies of contemporary identity can be divided into three large groups according to three methodological approaches: constructivist, postmodern and interactionist. The paper compares the major theories based on these approaches and reveals their theoretical and methodological problems. The paper shows that the constructivist approach is based on the notion of reflexivity which is viewed as a mechanism of identity formation by an individual. Identity is a reflexive project which is being realized in a conscious manner. The postmodern theories of identity reveal the fragmentation incompleteness of ego-identitity and it’s narcissic decay. They also reveal the inability of the individual to solve the problem of continuity and unity of her (his) own personality. Identity as a notion is replaced by the notion of identification which reduces identity to varions modes of repsentation. The interactionist methodology conld open up the way to tackle, the problem of individual’s unity and continuity as the main problem of human existence. This is the condition of the individual’s psychic and social health.