Sociocultural Dynamics of Identity

Abstract

The instability of the current situation and the forced search for oneself in the world of “current modernity”, by a requirement in forming in the process of socialization, authentication of personality able to be commuted from one identity to other. Target. The subject of the author’s attention will be an analysis of the dynamics of identity formation in a historical context that has gone from “We” to “I” and “I’”. Methodology and methods. The research is based on three scientific paradigms: 1) symbolic interactionism; 2) discursive approach; 3) sociology of knowledge. Results. The dynamics of identity formation in the history of mankind has gone through at least three stages, in the direction from “We”, when the problems of adaptation to the environment came to the fore. As the division of labor intensifies and the transition from polytheism to monotheism, a lot of “we” are added to the “We”-identity, associated with different spheres of society and human life, and the class structure of society rigidly fixed the subject within society and prescribed identity and led identification. New time gave a rise to “I”-identity, which was characterized by the desire to create a holistic personality, responsible for their actions. In the twentieth century, after the war, an “I’”-identity was formed, where there was no stable core, due to that the subject was in the process of transition from one self to another, and that brought a certain chaos into his life. Conclusion. The history of identity formation is a continuous process of transition from “We”-identity, based on an imitation, to “I”-identity, formed on the base of processes of educating, and “I’” identity, based on the processes of switching (transition) from one identity to other.