Social Identity and Change

Social identity is our sense of who we are. It is built up through socialisation and comes largely from the groups we belong to — our class, our sex, our ethnic group, our age group, our nation, our religion. It has two sides:

• Personal identity — what makes us feel unique as an individual (our name, biography, personality).
• Social identity — the parts of 'who we are' that we share with others because we belong to the same social groups.

Crucially, identity is socially constructed (recall Berger and Luckmann from 1.1): it is created and maintained through interaction and shared meaning, not fixed by biology. The same person can be seen very differently in different societies and at different points in history.

The 9699 syllabus picks out four key bases of identity you must be able to discuss:

Basis of identity	What it is built from	Why it matters
Social class	Occupation, income, wealth, culture and lifestyle	Shapes life chances, tastes, speech and a sense of 'us' vs 'them'
Gender	Socially constructed ideas of femininity and masculinity	Shapes expected roles, behaviour and self-image
Ethnicity	Shared culture, traditions, religion, language and ancestry	Provides belonging, pride and a sense of difference
Age	Childhood, youth, adulthood, old age (all social constructs)	Shapes status, expectations and how others treat us

These four overlap. A person is never just working class — they are also a particular gender, ethnicity and age at the same time. Identity is therefore multiple and can pull in different directions.

The big question for this subtopic, set up here and answered in the rest of the note, is whether these four bases still firmly fix our identity, or whether modern life has made identity something we increasingly choose.

Class identity

Social class shapes far more than income — it shapes tastes, speech, leisure, values and a sense of belonging.

• Traditional working-class identity was built on manual work, the local community and solidarity — a strong 'us' (workers) versus 'them' (bosses) feeling. Marxists link this to class consciousness: an awareness of shared class interests.
• Middle-class identity is associated with non-manual/professional work, qualifications, deferred gratification and individual achievement.

A key debate is whether class identity is declining:

• Embourgeoisement suggested that better-paid manual workers were becoming middle class in their outlook and lifestyle.
• Pakulski and Waters controversially argued for the "death of class" — that class no longer shapes identity as it once did, because consumption and lifestyle matter more.
• Against this, Skeggs showed in her research that class is still deeply felt: working-class women worked hard at 'respectability' precisely because class judgements still sting. Many sociologists argue class identity has changed form rather than disappeared.

Gender identity

Femininity and masculinity are socially constructed sets of expectations, not natural products of being male or female.

• Connell identified hegemonic masculinity — the dominant, culturally idealised form of manhood (toughness, breadwinning, heterosexuality) against which men are measured.
• The decline of traditional male manual jobs has led some to talk of a "crisis of masculinity" — men unsure of their role as old sources of male identity disappear.
• Female identities have changed markedly. Sue Sharpe's famous research compared girls in the 1970s and the 1990s and found a clear shift: from prioritising 'love, marriage, husbands and children' to prioritising 'careers, qualifications and being able to support themselves'. This shows gender identity is not fixed — it responds to social change.

Identity basis	Traditional form	Evidence of change	Key theorist
Class	Manual work, solidarity, class consciousness	'Death of class' claims; consumption over class	Pakulski & Waters; Skeggs
Gender	Fixed femininity/masculinity; male breadwinner	Crisis of masculinity; girls prioritise careers	Connell; Sue Sharpe

Ethnic identity

Ethnicity is a sense of shared identity based on common culture, traditions, religion, language and ancestry. Ethnic identity gives belonging and pride, and is reinforced through socialisation in the family and community.

• Cultural markers such as religion, food, dress and language help sustain ethnic identity even far from a group's place of origin.
• A diaspora is a group dispersed from its homeland that keeps a shared identity through transnational links (family, media, religion).
• Stuart Hall argued that ethnic identities are not fixed. His idea of "new ethnicities" stresses that identity is actively created, especially among young people, who blend cultures to form hybrid identities — for example a 'British Asian' or 'Brasian' identity that mixes British and South Asian influences. Ethnic identity is therefore dynamic and increasingly mixed, not a single inherited tradition.

Age identity

Age may look biological, but the meaning attached to each stage of life is a social construct that varies across cultures and history:

• Childhood is socially constructed — what childhood means, and how children are treated, differs between societies and over time (compare a sheltered modern Western childhood with societies where children work from a young age).
• Youth is associated with transition, exploration and freedom. Youth subcultures (distinctive styles, music and values) are an important way young people express identity and mark themselves off from adults.
• Old age is also socially constructed: in some societies elders have high status and respect, while in others old age is linked to dependency and decline. These experiences are changing as people live longer and stay active for longer.

Identity basis	Key idea	Evidence it is constructed/changing
Ethnicity	Built from culture, religion, language; can be hybrid	Stuart Hall's 'new ethnicities'; 'Brasian'; diaspora
Age	Childhood/youth/old age are social constructs	Cross-cultural and historical variation; youth subcultures

The syllabus asks specifically how class, gender, ethnicity and age identities may be changing. Three linked forces are central, and the postmodernist theorists are the names that lift your answer.

1. Globalisation

Globalisation — the growing interconnection of the world through trade, travel, migration and especially media — gives people access to many cultures at once.

• Some see cultural homogenisation ('Americanisation'): a single global consumer culture spreading and weakening distinct local identities.
• Others argue for glocalisation: global products and ideas are adapted to fit local cultures, so identity becomes a mix of global and local rather than a simple takeover.
• Either way, people now build identity from a far wider menu of cultural resources than their grandparents did.

2. Increased choice (postmodernism)

Postmodernists argue that in modern (or 'late modern') society, identity is no longer simply handed to us by class, gender or ethnicity — it is increasingly fluid, chosen and constructed.

• Giddens describes the reflexive self: in late modernity we constantly reflect on and remake who we are; identity becomes an ongoing personal project.
• Bauman uses the idea of liquid identity — identities are now changeable and temporary rather than solid and lifelong.
• Identity is increasingly expressed through consumption and lifestyle: what we buy, wear and watch signals who we are. Polhemus captured this with the phrase "supermarket of style" — we 'pick and mix' identities from an array of options, almost like shopping.

3. New / hybrid identities

Putting globalisation and choice together produces hybrid identities — identities created by mixing cultures.

• Stuart Hall's work on hybrid identities (the 'Brasian' example) shows young people blending the cultures around them into something new.
• Transnational identities are common: people feel they belong to more than one nation or culture at once, kept connected by media and travel.

Force	Core claim	Key theorist/concept
Globalisation	Access to global culture reshapes identity	Homogenisation vs glocalisation
Increased choice	Identity is fluid, chosen, expressed through consumption	Giddens (reflexive self); Bauman (liquid identity); Polhemus ('supermarket of style')
Hybridity	Cultures mix to create new identities	Stuart Hall (hybrid/'Brasian' identities)

The postmodernist 'identity is now chosen' argument is the headline-grabbing position, but the top band rewards a two-sided judgement. Modernists and structuralists offer powerful criticisms.

The case that identity is increasingly chosen (postmodernist):

• Old class, gender and ethnic identities clearly have loosened — Sharpe's girls, hybrid 'Brasian' identities and the rise of lifestyle/consumer identity all show this.
• Globalisation genuinely widens the cultural menu, and young people in particular do 'pick and mix'.

The case that identity is still shaped (and constrained) by structure:

• Class still matters. Skeggs shows class identity is still deeply felt, and your income limits the 'lifestyle' you can actually 'choose' — the 'supermarket of style' is only open to those who can afford it. Marxists argue class position still powerfully shapes life chances and identity.
• Gender still matters. Despite Sharpe's findings, patriarchy persists; women still face unequal expectations, and Connell's hegemonic masculinity still pressures men. Gender identity is not freely chosen for most people.
• Ethnicity still matters. Racism and discrimination mean ethnic identity is often imposed by how others treat you, not freely selected. You cannot simply 'opt out' of an ethnic identity others assign to you.
• Postmodernists overstate free choice. Choice is real but unequal — it is shaped by money, racism and patriarchy. Identity is therefore best seen as a negotiation between the resources society gives us (structure) and what we make of them (agency).

The balanced (top-band) view: identity has genuinely become more fluid, hybrid and consumption-based, especially for the young and the affluent — so the postmodernists are partly right. BUT class, gender and ethnicity continue to shape and constrain identity for most people most of the time, so the modernists are also right. The strongest conclusion is that identity is both structured and chosen — increasingly negotiated, not simply free.