The world is being increasingly globalised and diversified and there are many people who are multilingual, multicultural and do not have strong beliefs about anything. They are increasingly tolerant, adapting, and flexible individuals but unfortunately the world does not tolerate them. At one point or another in their lives they are categorised on the basis of their ethnicity, color, race, dressing style, gender, sexual orientation, performance and many other demographics. Unfortunately, their story might be very different from what is representative of their ethinic group, dressing style, gender, cultural beliefs, etc. How can they adjust to the world (people) around them who try to judge them, stereotype them and make assumptions about them? Is there any research on such a topic?
Hi Saima Eman , you really opened the Pandora's box with all the questions you raised! Therefore, I would a little bit try to "think out loud" and give some very general glances.
I think that you came up with different issues, perhaps mixing different processes and dimensions in which they operate, and I would doubt some assumptions you make (for example, that people do not have strong beliefs; or the fact that "they are categorized", in the sense that this phrase lacks an agent and a context).
Anyway and moreover, I think that you are depicting some sort of "bad" world (or people, as you say) who disturbs an "individual-Self" in his/her autonomous and auto-constructed worldviews constructing process. While obviously there are many cases in which people do really suffer the relation with stigmatizing and stereotyping situation, through which they are excluded or dehumanized, I thought that you were speaking more in general. If this is the case, I would say that developmental, social and cultural psychology show us how important is the encounter with Others to work, re-work and frame our identities. That is, judges, stereotypes, and assumptions (depending on context and situations, as already stated) are not just negative, but rather can give a chance and an opportunity to critically reflect upon them and, broadly, upon one's relationship with the social world. Position-taking processes, as so as perspective-acquiring processes, do have a debt with Others, since they always steam from relationships, intersubjective experiences, and interpersonal situations.
I would definitively recommend reading the following contributions by Michelle Fine! Have a nice day!
Fine, M. (1994). Working the hyphens: Reinventing self and other in qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (p. 70–82). Sage Publications, Inc.
Very interesting points. With regards to the first question: How can they adjust to the world (people) around them who try to judge them, stereotype them and make assumptions about them? I think it is important that we educate everyone, not just those who are 'outside' the box, of cross cultural communication and understanding. It is unfair for them to 'adjust' to the world. There is nothing wrong with their identities. It is who they are and should do nothing to change that. The world needs to change how they perceive different identities instead.
In addition to the suggestions of Michael Uebel I would like to recommend some general literature discussing the fundamental conception of identity - of course a small selection and without claim of comprehensiveness ;)):
Bagga-Gupta, S. (2013). The Boundary-Turn: Relocating Language, Culture and Identity through the epistemological lenses of time, space and social interactions.
Bagga-Gupta, S. (2017). Language and identity beyond the mainstream. Democratic and equity issues for and by whom, where, when and why. Journal of the European second language Association, (1), 102-112.
Bourdieu, P. (1991). Identity and representation. Language and symbolic power, 220-28.
Gergen, K. J. (1991). The saturated self: Dilemmas of identity in contemporary life (Vol. 166). New York: Basic books.
Lee, Y. J., & Roth, W. M. (2004, January). Making a scientist: Discursive" doing" of identity and self-presentation during research interviews. In Forum qualitative sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative social research (Vol. 5, No. 1).
McAdams, D. P., Josselson, R. E., & Lieblich, A. E. (2006). Identity and story: Creating self in narrative. American Psychological Association.
Yuval-Davis, N. (2010). Theorizing identity: Beyond the ‘us’ and ‘them’dichotomy. Patterns of prejudice, 44(3), 261-280.
All the best for your work!
Saima the issues around ethnicity and the range of orientations that you highlighted continue to be as complex and multi-faceted as human beings are. A number of studies mentioned below have sought to elucidate on the complexities involved:
Jones, S. (1997). The archaeology of ethnicity: constructing identities in the past and present. Psychology Press.
Flores, A. R., Brown, T. N., & Herman, J. (2016). Race and ethnicity of adults who identify as transgender in the United States. Los Angeles, CA: Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law.
Lee, T. L., Wilton, L. S., & Kwan, V. S. (2014). Essentializing ethnicity: Identification constraint reduces diversity interest. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 55, 194-200.
Harris, A. S., & Findley, M. G. (2014). Is ethnicity identifiable? Lessons from an experiment in South Africa. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 58(1), 4-33.
Tuan, M., & Shiao, J. L. (2011). Choosing ethnicity, negotiating race: Korean adoptees in America. Russell Sage Foundation.
Identity, G. (2011). Race and ethnicity.
I am interested in developments in this topic area. All the best.
John Mendy please let me know if there is an opportunity to collaborate/co-author in this area. Thanks.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Geoscience
- Asia
- India