Chapter 3: identity

social relations

any relationship between two or more individuals in a network of relationships that involve an element of individual agency as well as group expectations and form the basis of social organization and social structure.

Personhood

the status of being a person

Justice

how a society determines right and wrong

Moral Globalization

How has your society's behaviors been changed by outside influences

Gender Relations

How the males and females and others of your family organization connect to each other

social reproduction

structures and activities that transmit social inequality from one generation to the next

Rituals

stylized and usually repetitive acts that take place at a set time and location

Myths

stories that transmit a culturally meaningful messages about the universe, the natural

and supernatural world, and a person's place within them

Society

the way in which humans organize themselves in groups and networks.

Status and Role

The relative social position of an individual and the part a society expects an individual to play in a given status.

personhood examples

• Ojibwa Native tribe - attribute personhood to all forms of nature, and is tied to one’s relationship with their ancestors

• Hindu - Personhood is tied to one’s past life actions

consideration of identification

• The way people develop their cultural identity

  • Understood on individual level

• social characteristics

Social characteristics

• language

• locality

• kinship

• age

• nationality

• social class

Identity is relational

• Identify is primarily through people’s relationship with other

• dependent upon the social context in which a person finds themselves

code-switching

When a person fluent in many languages is placed in a position to choose which part of their identity to bring “forward”