I always liked Erik H. Eriksons theory, although he sort of specialized on child analysis. Maybe something to start with?

Maybe you like the theory by Ashforth and Mael published in the Academy of Management Review in 1989 entitled "Social Identity Theory and the Organization". Henry Tajfel´s "Social Identity and Intergroup Relations" (Cambridge University Press 1982/2010) and Rupert Brown´s Review "Social identity theory: past achievements, current problems and future challenges" in the European Journal of Social Psychology (2000) are also very useful. Good luck with your literature search in this broad field of scholarship!

Carrion and Locke, Levant, and Cass.  

I suggest you read Erving Goffman. In particular The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, but also Stigma.

Goffman

Have a look at:

Owens, T.J., Robinson, D.T., and Smith-Lovin, L. (2010). Three Faces of Identity. Annual Review of Sociology, 36: 385-409

Brubaker, R. and Cooper, F. (2002). Beyond ‘identity’. Theory and Society, 29: 1-47.

Stryker, S. and Burke, P.J. (2000). The Past, Present, and Future of an Identity Theory. Social Psychology Quaterly 63(4): 284-297.

Cerulo, K. A. (1997). Identity construction: new issues, new directions. Annual Review of Sociology, 23: 385(25).

I'd like to recommend Michael Kimmel’s THE GENDERED SOCIETY, especially the second part on gendered identities...

You might find the way through which Paul Newman in "Unstable Universalities" has mixed Lacanian psychoanalysis and Foucauldian discursive identity interesting. And just a friendly caveat: identity is the most complicated and debated term in both humanities and social sciences, so the more you read, the more you are directed to an unending labyrinth. Positioning towards this issue is a risky way. By the way, good luck with your journey.

For a recently published collection of essays on identity development of students in higher education, see Chad Hanson (Ed.), In Search of Self: Exploring Student Identity Development. New Directions for Higher Education, 166 (Summer 2014). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Dear Jimmie, since many influential identity theories have already been mentioned and since I'm convinced that you're already familiar with many of them anyway, just for the sake of a fuller picture I would like to remind of G. H. Mead's contributions as well as Charles Taylor's and Alistair MacIntyres assessments that both draw upon Paul Ricœur's conception of narrative identity.

I think, however, that you might be inspired by non-Western contributions, too, for example by early Buddhist theories about person, self, identity and the relatedness of such concepts and conceptual constructions to cognitive processes. In case you don't already know anyway, you will see how much of what is being celebrated as "Western" achievements in modern social sciences can already be found in the works of Buddhist scholars like Vasubandhu, Nagarjuna and others. I think that looking  into these theories gives some insight into the culture dependence of identity theories themselves, which is a topic rarely discussed in the field.

If you're interested, here's a good introduction into Indian identity theories, with a focus on Buddhist contributions:

Ganeri, J. (2007). The Concealed Art of the Self: Theories of Self and Practices of Truth in Indian Ethics and Epistemology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Estimado Jimmie:

Puedes revisar los aportes críticos de Axel Honneth en el texto "Reificación. Un estudio en la teoría del reconocimiento" y "The Struggle of recognition". Lo mismo en la obra de E. Erikson, "Identity. Youth and crisis". 

Asimismo, para una definición del término, véase a David J. de Levita, "The concept of identity". 

Saludos

Jimmy it depends on how you want to approach your topic, namely from a sociological perspective/approach,  a philosophical, historical or philosophical one, or  according to Turner and Tajfel who introduced  this concept (social identity theory)? In connection to self-categorization? Social identity theory cannot be generalized.

Hi Jimmie

Like you I too have waded across various theories related to identity in my doctoral work within the health professions education field. In particular I wanted to explore, illustrate and explain the dilemmas, ambiguities and inner conflicts in relation to identity which individuals may experience as they engage in working across discipline boundaries (e.g. in the context of interdisciplinary research and interprofessional education and practice in health), and how they respond to and manage these tensions. The concepts of identity dissonance (Costello, 2005) and identity work (from the organisational identity literature) have offered a useful way to unpack some of this. 

All the best with your own research and theory development

Koshila 

Some references that might be useful:

Alvesson, M. (2010). Self-doubters, strugglers, storytellers, surfers and others: Images of self-identities in organization studies. Human Relations 63, 193-217. 

Alvesson, M., Ashcraft, K. L., & Thomas, R. (2008). Identity matters: reflections on the construction of identity scholarship in organization studies. Organization, 15(1), 5-28. doi: 10.1177/1350508407084426

Alvesson, M., & Willmott, H. (2002). Identity regulation as organizational control: Producing the appropriate individual. Journal of Management Studies, 39(5), 619-644.

Costello, C. (2005). Professional Identity Crisis: Race, Class, Gender, and Success at Professional Schools. Nashville, Tennessee: Vanderbilt University Press.

Sveningsson, S., & Alvesson, M. (2003). Managing managerial identities: organizational fragmentation, discourse and identity struggle. Human Relations, 56(3), 1163-1193.

It seems you are interested in the social psychology perspective. So I recommend:  Kawakami, Kerry & Dion, Kenneth “Social Identity and Affect as Determinants of Collective Action. Toward an Integration of Relative Deprivation and Social Identity Theories”. I have also attached Stet and Burkes (2000) article on “ Identity Theory and Social Identity Theory”.

  However, form the sociological perspective I would like to recommend M. Kimmel’s (2004) Gendered Society...

I recommend:

Young, Iris Marion: Polity and Group Difference: A Crituque of the Ideal od Universal Citizenship u Ethics, 99, Chicago, 1989.

Peter, Jones: Group Rights, Ashgate, Velika Britanija, 2009.

Parekh, Bhikhu: Rethinkig Multiculturalism – Cultural Diversity and Political Theory, United Kingdom, 2000.

Gutmann, Amy (ed.): Multiculturalisam, Princetone University Press, New Jersey, 1994.

Mujkic, Asim "We, the citizens of ethnopolis". (this book can be found at the following link: http://www.ccr.ba/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Asim-Mujkic_WE-THE-CITIZENS-OF-ETHNOPOLIS.pdf 

Best regards,

Amila Zdralovic

Hi

In my work I am using the pragmatists' approach to the self specially Peircian semiotic and dialogical self. The semiotic self (Wiley, 1994) and Peirce's approach to the self by Vincent Colapietro (1988) are good sources. Also Margaret Archer has tried to use the Peircian internal conversation to explain the mediation between structure and agency which is relevant.

Also Hubert Hermans' dialogical self theory is an attempt develop a new theory using different existing ones such as Mead, Bakhtin and Vygotsky (http://huberthermans.com/)

Best of luck 

Shahram

Identity and identification are powerful terms. Because they Speak to the very definition of an entity—an organization, a group, a person. I like the following article:

ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY AND IDENTIFICATION: CHARTING NEW WATERS AND BUILDING NEW BRIDGES

STUART ALBERT (University oi Minnesota); BLAKE E. ASHFORTH (Arizona State University); IANE E. DUTTON (University of Michigan)

http://amr.aom.org/content/25/1/13.extract

I find World Society Theory explanations (Stanford School of sociological institutionalism, World Polity Theory or World Culture theory) quite convincing in explaining "identity" not as something essential or given, but as a globally scripted requirement of 'proper' actorhood. In other words, identity not only as a socio-cultural construct (something social science has agreed on for quite some time now) but also as an element in a world diffused script: in order to be considered as legitimate (modern) actors, we need to claim and express unique identities, even though the "uniqueness" that we find is more often than not highly isomorphic across spatio-temporal contexts.

I recommend the following texts that discuss the issue of identity-as-script (as it applies to 'social' actors such as nation-states, organizations, or individuals):

John W. Meyer, John Boli, George M. Thomas, and Francisco O. Ramirez. "World Society and the Nation‐State". American Journal of Sociology Vol. 103, No. 1 (July 1997) (pp. 144-181)

John W. Meyer. "World Society, Institutional Theories, and the Actor"

Annual Review of Sociology Vol. 36: 1-20 (August 2010)

DOI: 10.1146/annurev.soc.012809.102506

I would also like to recommend:

Burke, Peter J., and Jan E. Stets. 2009. Identity theory. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

MacKinnon, Neil J., and David R. Heise. 2010. Self, identity, and social institutions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Years ago I read and liked a small book by Ian Craib (Experiencing Identity). I would also look into the work of Jim Côté. His concern with new ericksonism seems promising.

Hello,

I suggest you examine the theory of "corporate identity" and her perspectives. I would  like to recommend:

Balmer, J. M. (1998). Corporate Identity and the Advent of Corporate Marketing. Journal of Marketing Management(14), 963-996.

Balmer, J. M. (2001a). Corporate Identity, Corporate Branding and Corporate Marketing-Seeing Through The Fog. European Journal of Marketing, 35(3/4), 248-291.

Hatch, M. J., & Schultz, M. (1997). Hatch, M. J. & Schultz, M. (1997). Relations Between Organizational Culture, Identity and Image. European Journal of Marketing(31), 356 - 425.

Melewar, T., & Karaosmanoglu, E. (2006). Seven dimensions of corporate identity: A categorisation from the practitioners' perspectives. European Journal of Marketing, 40(7/8), 846-869.

Best Regards,

Adriyana

Thank you Simona Szakács; informative articles on World Society Theory explanations, Stanford School of sociological institutionalism, World Polity Theory or World Culture theory.  

For those without access to the journals, I have included links to them below:

John W. Meyer, John Boli, George M. Thomas, and Francisco O. Ramirez. "World Society and the Nation‐State". American Journal of Sociology Vol. 103, No. 1 (July 1997) (pp. 144-181)

Link to article below:

John W. Meyer. "World Society, Institutional Theories, and the Actor"

Annual Review of Sociology Vol. 36: 1-20 (August 2010)

DOI: 10.1146/annurev.soc.012809.102506

Link to article below: 

http://www.politics.fudan.edu.cn/picture/1919.pdf

http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.soc.012809.102506

Look at the analytic tradition Ryle, Austin, Dummett

Great sources so far! as you work to develop your own theory, you may be interested in the way in which I developed an interdisciplinary theoretical approach (publication forthcoming) in my dissertation where I incorporated Goffman's presentation of self. 

Thesis The Phenomenon of Doctoral Student Motherhood Mothering in A...

I enjoyed reading these resources. Hope you will find them interesting too.

Ashforth, B. E., & Mael, F. (1989). Social identity theory and the organization. Academy of management review, 14(1), 20-39.

Helms, J. E. (1990). Black and White racial identity: Theory, research, and practice. Greenwood Press.

The Western literature on identity is diverse and multidimensional, drawing on many disciplines, but mostly do not reflect very well the construction of various types and levels of identity in many other countries - which also have large, developed and sometimes much older intellectual traditions which also contain various types of identity theories. Some of these do overlap, or historically influenced the development of many Western theories, but a much more global and diversified view is overdue

The sociocultural Theory (Lave, Wenger, Dreier)