ABSTRACT
At its core, identity is self-awareness. Self-awareness develops over time-indeed, infants do not initially have a sense of themselves separate from their mothers or their general surroundings. In addition to a personal identity, a child develops a social identity shaped by his or her socio-cultural environment. Interactions with others help the child understand the social categories or “groups” to which he or she belongs. This belonging is determined partly by biological factors, such as race and sex, but is largely determined by socio-cultural factors like religion, language, gender, economics, and politics.
