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To have meaningful and productive conversations about identity, we have to understand how we ourselves are positioned. The information and activities below are intended to help give you language and context to articulate your identity.
Identity Self-Inventory
Identity Self-Inventory
Personal Identity is our identity as an individual‐including our personal characteristics, history, personality, name, and other characteristics that make us unique and different from other individuals. They include things like our hobbies and the number of siblings we have.
Social Identity is a term used to describe the ways in which we characterize ourselves and understand who we are, based on the groups defined within society to which we belong. They include things like our race and sexual orientation.
One of the most salient differences between Personal Identity and Social Identity is our that Social Identities have a more direct connection to our status and legal rights in society. For the purposes of this course, when we use the term "Identity" we are referring to Social Identity rather than Personal Identity.
Consider the following Social Identity categories and make a list of the identity or identities you hold in each category:
Socioeconomic class - economic position in society, including financial resources and level of education (working class, affluent, etc.)
Race - group identified as distinct from other groups because of supposed physical or genetic traits shared by the group (Asian, Black, White, etc.)
Ethnicity - group that shares a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, etc. (Korean, Nigerian, Irish, etc.)
Gender - someone's understanding of themselves as a man, woman, non-binary person, or another gender entirely, often associated with appearance and behavior (woman, gender fluid, etc.)
Sexual orientation - one's tendencies of sexual attraction (Gay, Straight, Queer, etc.)
Assigned sex - category assigned at birth based on the appearance of external reproductive organs (male, female, etc.); NOTE: when a person's current Gender matches the sex they were assigned at birth, that is referred to as being cis-gendered
Nationality - country of origin (Pakistan, United States, etc.)
First language - language one grew up speaking most often (Spanish, Tagalog, etc.)
Age - number of years passed since birth (23 years old, etc.)
Ability - power or capacity to do something physically, mentally, and/or emotionally (deaf or hard of hearing, currently able bodied, autistic, etc.)
Religion/spirituality - set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe (Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, etc.)
The goal of the activity is for you to come up with a word or phrase to describe how you identify in that category. This is not an exhaustive list, so feel free to add any category you feel is important to your Social Identity. Make note of which categories you have a dominant identity, such as a "Straight" sexual orientation or "US" nationality.
The Impact of Identity, Inside and Out
The Impact of Identity, Inside and Out
Once we have an inventory of our Social Identities, it's important to understand how those identities shape our sense of self and our experience of the world. We are individuals with our own thoughts, feelings, and experiences. And we also exist within and as part of the world around us. Harro's Cycle of Socialization can help us understand the ways we are socialized to play certain roles and our relationship to systems of oppression.
Consider the diagram below and think about your own experiences at various points in the cycle. Reflect on the experiences that shaped how you understand yourself and your place in the world. When were you first aware of an identity where you hold privilege? Did the adults around you ever discourage you from talking about a particular identity? What messages did you get from the books, movies, or television you enjoyed as a kid?
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