Identity Choices Research Articles

Pochodzenie etniczne a tożsamości narodowe. Narody pluralistyczne na przykładzie krajów Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej

This article presents a typology of the transformation of ideas about nations and national identity in East Central Europe, with particular consideration of Poland. The author claims that in consequence of accelerating processes affecting the choice of national identity the structure of ethnic peoples is undergoing qualitative changes. Ethnicity is increasingly less likely to determine national identity. However, in spite of manifestations of supranational integration and globalization, individual nations are not declining; on the contrary, national ties primarily turn out to be more important than supra-national interests, which are diluted and not based on strong community ties. At the same time, nations are acquiring pluralist traits.

Identity and performance in technical Q&A

ABSTRACTIdentity and the different roles identities play in social question-answering communities have long been discussed from both a theoretical and empirical standpoint. Identity is usually analysed in ways that emphasise a transaction, and many studies use third-party raters to assign value judgements to these factors, which may not be relevant to a community. In this article, we examine identity in Stack Overflow, a question and answer site dedicated to solving computer-programming problems, which has a competitive community run reputation system. Profiles on Stack Overflow are highly customizable, allowing users to choose the level of personal information they want to share: from extensive to none. We develop a categorisation scheme using grounded theory to develop definitions of identity, and analyse behaviour based on these definitions. We find that the choice of identity is diverse within the community and that there is a correlation with identifiers and increased reputation earning among the general population. An analysis of elite users, however, indicates that identity is closely tied to membership length, but not to performance. The results indicate that allowing identity choices does affect system efficacy or user outcomes.

Bioética y situación narrativa de las personas con trastorno del desarrollo sexual (TDS)

This paper will deal with the existential condition of people diagnosed in an intersexual state based on the anatomical and gonadal sexual ambiguity described as hermaphroditism. The refl ection and analysis of the LGBTTTI group’s orientation and/or sexual preference processes is not the main objective of the study, but rather the refl exive considerations that provoke bioethical dilemmas in the choice of sex-generic identity that is assigned by third parties to a person at the time of birth according to a clear and objective genitality that reveals anatomical ambiguity, causing the people responsible and/or close to it –whether parents, guardians, or doctors– to make hasty and/or arbitrary decisions regarding the designation of the sex with which the newborn will be registered –for legal purposes–. This gives rise to a consent (perhaps hasty and even arbitrary) with respect to the surgical treatment indicated to assign sexual identity from the genitality or depending only on the gonadal situation, which subsequently implies dilemmatic ethical situations concerning the existential condition of the sexual identity assigned arbitrarily and under implicit legal, social and cultural pressure.

Comparing career identities and choices of pre-service early childhood teachers between Australia and China

ABSTRACT Australia and China are experiencing increasing need for trained early childhood teachers. Career identity and work choices are critical ingredients for achievement in career outcomes. This study reports on a survey undertaken by early childhood pre-service teachers from China and Australia regarding identity and choices for early childhood teaching. Significant similarities and differences of career identity suggest that Australian respondents have higher career aspirations to be an early childhood teacher than Chinese counterparts, but contradictorily the Australian respondents preferred teaching in primary schools. Reasons, views and intentions to work in early childhood education were key points of comparable interest.

VISUAL METAPHOR OF HUMAN IDENTITY

To a certain time the processes of human identity formation were not the subject of the general science of human , the change and choice of identity happened spontaneously, economic moments as prevailing in public life were hidden behind consciousness. With the assertion of capitalism the construction of a purely economically dismembered society, life manifests itself in the ideological struggle for consciousness, i.e. in the struggle for identity, for concealing or exposing public antagonisms. Identity becomes the subject of theoretical discourse. The actual problematic place on this path is the necessary connection between the theory and practice of fabricating historically new identities. The purpose of this article is a theoretical understanding of the human identity as a social construct and concept in the act of metaphorical vision. Currently the identity is explored as an object of social designing in the media space of a visible society for the sake of the trend all for sale. Visualization, simulation, identification are the human acts , the knowledge of which allows us to comprehend the technological process of human identity. Modern theoretical knowledge of the problems of identity formation points to the mechanism of this phenomenon. Thus, it becomes clear that the metaphorization of the human identity discourse is a law of social categorization. It is important that the metaphor is the identity (individuality, integrity) affirmation through which a complex of ideological (illusory, imaginary) qualities becomes an individual, i.e. proclaims itself a reality (truth, verity). In the metaphorization of the identity discourse a special place is occupied by visual practices: magic ritual, fashion, style, make-up, advertising, cinema, photography, poster, circus, carnival, press, etc. Human, social activities are impossible without rituals. By in this case we mean practices, strengthening common identity and solidarity of community members, collective actions aimed at establishing their own symbolic space and temporality. Libreto of the is a mythology. Ritual (visual) and myth (verbal) are ideological basis of social subject. Ritual and myth are symbolic, metaphorical, demonstrative (visual), etc. In addition to anthropological significance, the concept ritual has a common biological one – a stereotypical form of animals’ behavior under various standard communications. Animals usually strengthen their communication by repeatedly rhythmic repetition of its bodily elements (for example, for humans it is a demonstration of complex facial expressions, gestures, etc.). Violation of rituals promotes the formation of new of animals in nature. New species of human are historical forms of culture of imagination and communication. The visual metaphor of human identity will be understood, firstly (from the side of the identity reification ), as a social construct , i.e. the everyday vision of identity, the type of looking at it, which is embodied in an imaginary desirable image of self, in its own subjectness as I for others and subjectivity as I for myself (e.g.: rose with thorns, clerical rat, office plankton, money-bag, white crow, impregnable rock, brownie, frog, wop, vatnik, vyshyvatnik, zhdun, countries of South and North), secondly (from the side of the identity reflection ), as a socio-philosophical technological concept , which is the foundation of theoretical discourse of the identity, this allows us to comprehend and optimize the distinction between social spaces and the totalization of their elements from the side of human visual activity (for example: regionality, generationality, nationality, genderness, marginality, humaneness).

Group identity in a network formation game with cost sharing

AbstractThis paper introduces the choice of group identity, which is comprised of characteristics and commitments to these characteristics, in a network formation model where links costs are shared. Players want to link to the largest group given that linking costs for players of the same (different) characteristic are decreasing (increasing) in their commitments. The equilibrium concepts used are Nash equilibrium as well as one that looks for stability allowing for bilateral negotiations. Conditions are shown under which the endogenous choice of characteristics and commitments allow for multiple groups with segregated or connected networks. When group identity is partly endogenous, such that characteristics are fixed and players only choose commitment, it is shown that the equilibrium population commitment profile dictates whether the resulting network is segregated or connected. When group identity is fully endogenous, it is shown that multiple groups and segregated networks are possible equilibrium outcomes but such outcomes are not stable unless the group size additionally affects the costs of link formation.

Language Shift and Identity: Exploring Factors Which Condition Identity When a Traditional Language is Lost

The loss of a minority group’s language may or may not be accompanied by the loss of the same group’s identity. This study explores the factors that appear to condition identity choices among minority communities. A number of language communities in advanced stages of language shift are chosen as case studies. Based on these case studies, a framework is proposed that organizes the factors involved in group identity choices into either language internal or language ecology factors, each with their own set of relevant characteristics. The benefit of this new approach over previous explanations is its ability to describe identity choices from a wide array of motivations. Such a framework will facilitate future researchers considering this question, providing them with a roadmap to navigate the various identity options.

Visualisations in Choice Experiments: Comparing 3D Film-sequences and Still-images to Analyse Housing Development Alternatives

Participatory planning approaches are said to improve agreement on sustainable housing development objectives among stakeholders. The choice experiment method (CE) offers much potential for an in-depth and rigorous participatory planning approach, e.g. having individuals choose their most preferred option from a range of (planning) alternatives. Here we tested for differences in preferences for housing development alternatives resulting from the different forms of presentation of identical choice set information (treatments) – in particular, digitally generated film sequences presented to respondents as compared with the presentation in the format of a series of still images, as an internet survey among German home buyers. The findings suggest that a more sophisticated form of choice set presentation, 3D film sequences, was outperformed by a more basic form of visualisation technique, the choice set information presented as 3D still-images. Also, we tested for the effect of the degree of ‘expertise’ of respondents and found that a more sophisticated form of choice set presentation (3D film sequences) led to a better comprehension of the choice set task only among ‘expert respondents’, i.e. respondents who in the past had made a housing investment decision or were presently making an actual house buying decision.

National Identity after a Conflict: National Identity Choice among Northern Irish Youth

AbstractThis work uses multinomial logistic regression to explore how Northern Irish youth view their national identity and the factors that shape their self-identification post-1998 Good Friday Agreement. We use the 2005-2015 Northern Ireland Young Life and Times Surveys of 16-year-olds to investigate these questions. The results indicate that intergroup contact is less influential than environmental factors on national identity. Residential and school composition has more of an effect on solidifying Irish identity than British identity (relative to that of a Northern Irish identity). Our work adds to the literature on national identity development and choice among young adults in post-conflict and post-peace-agreement environments.

ТРАНСФОРМАЦИИ ИДЕНТИЧНОСТИ НЕНЕЦКОЙ МОЛОДЕЖИ В ИНОКУЛЬТУРНОЙ СРЕДЕ

Today the Nenets community represents a polar continuum: those living traditional lifestyles are at one end and those who fell out of touch with the tundra culture are at the other end. Any individual at any point along the continuum preserves and manifests his/her ethnic identity. At the same time, ideals and claims to preserve ethnic identity come into conflict with the desire to get closer to urban living standards. The paper considers case studies of identity choices of the Nenets youth being a group heavily engaged in migration processes and assimilation in the ethno-cultural environment; the choices helps boys and girls to restate their ethnic identity and to acquire new foundation for solidarity.

Near-optimal integration of facial form and motion

Human perception consists of the continuous integration of sensory cues pertaining to the same object. While it has been fairly well shown that humans use an optimal strategy when integrating low-level cues proportional to their relative reliability, the integration processes underlying high-level perception are much less understood. Here we investigate cue integration in a complex high-level perceptual system, the human face processing system. We tested cue integration of facial form and motion in an identity categorization task and found that an optimal model could successfully predict subjects’ identity choices. Our results suggest that optimal cue integration may be implemented across different levels of the visual processing hierarchy.

Ethno-racial identity (politics) by law: “Fraud” and “choice”

Following an introduction to the changes in how ethno-racial identity is conceptualized in the social sciences and humanities by the destabilization of categorical frameworks, the author looks at how law reacts to these discussions and paradigm shifts, and argues that legal and administrative approaches face severe linguistic and conceptual limitations by operating within a “choice” and “fraud” binary. The article then questions if the free choice of identity exists as a principle of international minority protection law, a legal field that arguably represents a global political and ethical consensus. The author makes two claims. First, according to the basic tenet of legal logic, a proper right to free choice of identity allowing people to opt out of racial, ethnic, or national (minority) communities would necessitate the freedom to opt in to the majority or to any chosen group. The second claim, however, is that international law would not actually construct an approach to opting in. Thus, the right to free choice of identity is not an autonomous,sui generisright under international law.

Identity and coalitions in a multiracial era: how state legislators navigate race and ethnicity

ABSTRACTResearch on descriptive representatives provides mixed evidence that race informs legislators’ political views. However, past work conflates racial categorization with racial identity, and often lacks variation in race as the key variable. Additionally, few studies examine how diversity within groups may impact intergroup relations within the legislature. The presence of multiracial elected officials prompts us to revisit the linkages descriptive representatives draw between their race and their political outlooks, and to explore the consequences of multiracial legislators’ presence for intergroup relations within the legislature. Interviews with a diverse set of legislators were conducted. For multiracial legislators, questions about phenotypic ambiguity were salient, and narratives suggest their racial identities were consciously chosen, which in turn shaped their politics. The interviews also suggest that some multiracial legislators may encounter challenges to their minority caucus memberships. The findings suggest that as legislatures become more diverse, phenotype and identity choices may complicate intergroup relations in the legislature and how scholars understand what constitutes a descriptive representative.

Misbehavioral Law and Economics: Separating and Pooling in Responses to Consumer Financial Mistakes

This paper examines policy responses to mistakes individuals make in financial decisions like payday loans and day-trading. One goal of policy is to match the choices we make to what we really want — our preferences. This is difficult because a mistaken and a non-mistaken chooser have different preferences despite their identical choices, and their actual preferences cannot be measured directly.Preferences are informed by subjective tastes and by objective circumstances, and both vary from person to person. Consider two investors who each choose to day-trade, which will almost certainly lose them money. The two may differ from each other in their tastes — how much they enjoy the thrill of a gambling-like activity — and in their circumstances — the degree to which a loss will damage their financial health. Consumers usually know best when it comes to subjective tastes, while third-party interventions can often account for objective circumstances in guiding choices. Circumstance-focused policies can employ proxies — rules that are tailored around observable traits that are proxies for the relevant circumstances, such as minimum income requirements in some parts of the securities law. By contrast, for making outcomes sensitive to taste, policymakers should employ elicitation strategies, that get consumers to reveal more information about private tastes. This paper describes both options, and discusses how to assess the costs of residual mismatching.

Gender, Ethnicity, Ethnic Identity, and Language Choices of Malaysian Youths: the Case of the Family Domain

This study examined the relationships between gender, ethnicity, ethnic identity, and language choices of Malaysian multilingual youths in the family domain of language use. Five hundred undergraduate students who belonged to different Malaysian ethnic groups were selected as participants of the study. The participant aged between 17 to 25 years old. To select the participants, a random proportional stratified sampling strategy was developed. A self administered questionnaire survey comprising three sections was used for gathering information about participants’ demographic profiles, their language choices in the family domain, and the concepts of their ethnic identity. To make analyses about the most used languages of the participants and the relationships between variables, SPSS software was run. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the participants’ profiles as well as participants’ used languages in the family domain of language use. Inferential statistics was used to examine relationships between variables. According to results of the study, in the family domain five codes were mostly used by the participants. These five codes were respectively, the Malay language, mixed use of Malay and English, Chinese, Mixed use of Chinese and English, and English. Furthermore, in the family domain, gender did not exert any influence on the choice of language of the multilingual participants, but ethnicity was found to be a determinant of language choice. Ethnic identity was found to influence the language choices of the Malays as well, but it did not affect the Chinese and Indian participants’ language choices in this domain of language use.

Individual vs. Social Motives in Identity Choice: Theory and Evidence from China

This paper studies how material incentives and social norms shape ethnic identity choices in China. Provincial policies give material benefits to minorities, which consequently affect the ethnicity choices for children in ethnically mixed marriages. We formalize the ethnic identity choice in a simple framework, which highlights the interaction of (i) material benefits stemming from ethnic policies, (ii) identity costs associated with breaking the norm of following the father’s ethnicity, and (iii) social reputations altering the importance of identity costs. Consistent with the model, we find that ethnic policies increase the propensity to break the prevailing norm for mixed families with minority mothers. Moreover, the impact of ethnic policies is larger in localities where more such families follow the norm. More broadly, our study shows (1) how government policies can shape identity choices and (2) how one can allow for both complementarity and substitutability between individual and social motives in empirical analyses.

Speaking of Spirits: Oral History, Religious Change, and the Seen and Unseen Worlds of Hmong Americans

This essay argues that oral history allows scholars to see what might otherwise be invisible to them: the gods and spirits that are a forceful presence in the lives of religious people. Oral history changes how scholars write religious history by illuminating how choices of religious belief, practice, and identity are rooted in how religious people understand and interact with an unseen spiritual world. To illustrate this point, this essay focuses on the religious changes experienced by Hmong Americans. Hmong decisions to adopt Christianity or return to indigenous Hmong religion were religious choices that were the product of the constant interaction between Hmong people and the gods that richly populate their spiritual landscape.

A késő modernitás globalizációelmélete és a kockázattársadalmi identitás

Modernity is the sum of the fragmented cultural systems of meaning, that are mutually influentialon each other, plus of economic and political relations continually changing and transforming –a complexity that manifests itself in the structure of the (world) risk society even on the level ofthe individual. Following the late modern turn, the phenomenon of the means and opportunitiesdetermining the ability of choice is not being shared equally, but multiplied as regards globalactors, as well as choice of identity, perceptibility of risks and facing them. The study presentsthe new inequality factors and the asymmetric power relations of the late modernity along theworks by the recently died sociologists of the globalization theory (Ulrich Beck and ZygmuntBauman). In the world risk society, each community and individual bear the risks indifferently.Accordingly, the ascertainments of the study are that the globalised economy and the subjectsof the local poverty do not possess the same degree of the freedom of maneuvering. In orderto demonstrate this and also to identify each postmodern life-strategy, the study relies on theworks on identity by the discussed sociologists. According to the latter, the study concludes, thatthe reflexivity of the risk is the most profitable for those who are in the high position of the newinequality, thus, have the power to determine conflicts generated by them and inflict them onthose excluded from the struggle of definition of risk.

Ideologies of language revival: Kazakh as school talk

Aims and objectives: This paper describes the implicit ideologies that undergird a language revival context and addresses the semiotic processes through which ideological dominance is challenged. It demonstrates the role of everyday family interactions in the re-acquisition of a “native” language of one’s ethnic identity. Design/methodology/approach: The paper addresses the role of language ideology and family language practices in language revitalization. It is a mixed-methods study interpreting micro-level interactional data within the macro-level context documented by previously collected survey data. Data and analysis: The paper draws upon 15 hours of audio-recorded interactional data from one urban family of ethnic Kazakhs in which the children, who were brought up speaking Russian, are enrolled in a Kazakh-medium pre-school. This in-depth, micro-level interactional study is informed by a large-scale survey indicating that urban, Russian-speaking Kazakhs are undergoing dramatic changes in their language views, use, and proficiency. Findings: The interactional analysis revealed changes in the conceptualization of Kazakh—from the vernacular associated with low prestige and backwardness to the high prestige language of school. Examinations of codeswitching in adult–child interactions showed that re-imagining of Kazakh is accomplished through four mutually reinforcing metalanguaging practices—limiting Kazakh to pedagogic formats, constructing Kazakh as school talk, confining Kazakh to “prior text,” and the co-occurrence of a shift to Kazakh with a shift to a meta-communicative frame. Originality: These findings expand our understanding of the discursive processes through which the ideology of revival is created and sustained in day-to-day interactions in the family. The study expands the scholarship on family language policy through its contribution with data from Kazakhstan and its focus on current issues related to post-Soviet experiences. Significance: The study adds to current research in family language policy by providing empirical evidence for conceptualizing the family as a dynamic system in which language policies and identity choices are shaped by parental ideologies and by the broader social and cultural context of family life.

The politics and construction of identity and childhood: Chinese immigrant families in New Zealand

Diverse immigrants have significantly transformed the ethnic make-up of New Zealand, and they have brought with them diverse identities to this country. Findings from a doctoral research project which involved exploring Chinese immigrant parents’ identity choices for themselves and their children highlight the complex politics of identity. Within the field of education, children’s acquisition of a positive identity is closely related to valued self-worth, and a sense of shared identity is further believed to promote beneficial relationships, sense of belonging and social cohesion. Identity theories, nonetheless, argue that contemporary individual identities are fluid and hybrid, and an over-emphasis on collective identity creates boundaries, exclusion and tension. This article applies some of these theoretical frames to critically examine the identity choices of Chinese immigrant parent participants and argues for the need to re-examine the notion of identity. The implications of these identity choices on their children’s childhood and social and education practices are also analysed.