The Social Construction of ‘Ethnic Identity’: Confusion over Terms? How the Sociology of ‘Ethnic Identity’ can be Relevant to the Use of Theory in Counselling Psychology

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In today’s shifting social climate of financial crises, war, economic migration and refugee crises, ethnic identity is an increasingly important psychosocial variable to consider within the helping professions. In this article, a postmodern perspective on the development and experience of ethnic identity is discussed - in particular, the social constructionist view, which is based on a fluid, non-binary identity logic. Using applications of ethnic identity in the field of counselling psychology as a professional example, some major theoretical approaches to the study of ethnic identity are briefly described - including social identity theory, acculturation and psychodynamic approaches, as well as the contribution of identity process theory - and questions are raised about the useful potential of adopting this postmodern perspective alongside these standard theoretical models in clinical work.