ABSTRACT
The sociological study of identity spans complex terrain. Social psychologists have been
studying identity – the meanings through which we define ourselves, and others define us, as
particular kinds of people – since the 1930s. Most sociologists make three assumptions about
identity. First, identities are not inborn, they are socially constructed – we learn them in
childhood (largely from parental figures), and continue to (re)learn them throughout our
lives. This means that identity is not merely idiosyncratic: it is shaped by the cultural and
social conditions of our lives. Second, identities are fluid: they can change over time and
across situations. Who I say I am, or who you perceive me to be, may not be who I will say I
am (or who you perceive me to be) five minutes, five months, or five years from now.
Third, we perform identities in social interaction. By seeing people as actors who perform
identities differently over time and across contexts, sociologists recognize that individuals
have agency in the creation of self. One may act differently, for instance, with parents than
with friends. These assumptions stem from a perspective in sociology called symbolic inter-
action, which holds that humans actively interpret the social world. We interpret the
world in our own terms, but the world is not of our own making. As such, our
identities – for example our sexuality, race, class, and gender – are both shaped by and
reshape the world around us.
