ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to provide such a broader picture, drawing on the findings of identity studies from different disciplines and using the basic concept of semiotics – the sign – as its central notion. It provides an outline of an original argument regarding the nature of identity and, in connection with this, occasionally critically discusses various alternative approaches. The book also outlines the structure of identities as signs. The basic argument is that people understand the identities of others in ways similar to how they understand linguistic utterances. The book also outlines the types of identity signals and identity meanings in more detail, providing a wide range of examples of their manifestation. It focuses on what makes people believe that they form a community, and why they act together as a distinctive collective entity.
