Caste, Social Class and Cultural Identity Development In Psychology, identity formation is seen as a process of developing one’s individuality, where an individual develops distinct personality, involves a sense of uniqueness and affiliation. It is how a person defines him/herself. According to Erikson’s theory, identity development occurs typically during adolescence and early adulthood. A person’s identity may be related to several aspects like language, caste, culture, religion, social class, race, gender, sexuality, occupation, and family. Cultural identity refers to a sense of belonging to one’s cultural or ethnic group. It is a collective phenomenon. Here the person shares certain common characteristics with his/her cultural group members, identifies with the values, beliefs of the cultural group. There are stages of cultural identity development given by James Bank (1976, 2004). They are as follows: Stage 1: Ethnic psychological captivity: the person has monocultural experiences. He/she identifies with negative stereotypes, ideologies and beliefs about their own cultural/ethnic group. This may lead to low self-esteem and cultural self-rejection. They may be ashamed of their membership to the specific group and react in ways like avoiding situations involving interaction with other groups, or trying to establish contact with other cultural groups for assimilation. Stage 2: Ethnic Encapsulation: people have defensive attitude towards their ethnic group. They believe that their group is superior to others and participate exclusively within their own ethnic group. Stage 3: Ethnic Identity Clarification: here people begin to have positive attitude towards their ethnic group. Cultural pride is genuine at this stage. They clari... ... middle of paper ... ...s of dalits who have moved into higher echelons are Former Indian President K.R.Narayanan, Dr. Jagjivan Ram, Former Chief Justice of India K.G.Balakrishnan, and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Ms. Mayawati among others. Despite all these efforts, in many parts atrocities and misuse of benefits still continue. Hence people on a large scale need to be educated about their rights and duties, motivated for further development and positive contribution to the society and nation. Also, we need to bring in further attitudinal change among people of all strata (caste/class) so that they can be more accepting and tolerant. This will help to bring an all inclusive development in the society with mutual respect for each other. This is especially relevant in the current context of globalisation and liberalisation, where we are moving towards becoming a global citizen.
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Show MoreThe Helms White Racial Identity Model, created by Dr. Janet Helms, has six stages which are now referred to as statuses. The statuses are, contact, disintegration, reintegration, pseudoindependence, immersion/emersion, and autonomy. The first status, contact, shows obliviousness to being unaware of racism. This status shows that an individual believes everyone has an equal chance to success and lacks understanding of discrimination and prejudice. The second status is the disintegration status meaning that there is conflict among an individual’s loyalty to their group and “humanistic ideals”. These people may try to avoid people of a different race, may attempt to be “color blind”, and may seek reassurance from other Whites that racism is not their fault. The next status is reintegration. If reintegration occurs, racial/ethnic minorities may be blamed for their problems.
“Our own culture is often hidden from us, and we frequently describe it as “the way things are.”” People do not even realize their own cultural identity, so then how do people know what shapes it? A person’s identity is shaped by cultural experiences that make them into the person they are today. Some of these experiences include someone’s parents, the media, and where they grew up.
This model examines the relationship between the dominant culture and one with minority status, such as Latinos. Attitudes towards self, same minority group, different minority groups, and the dominant group are examined through five stages within the model. These include conformity, dissonance, resistance and immersion, introspection, and integrative awareness. The stage most pertinent to Antonio at this time is the Dissonance stage. During this stage, one starts to acknowledge the existence of racism, that he cannot escape his own heritage, and experiences conflict between shame and pride felt for his culture. This same shame versus pride conflict is also extended to members of his own minority group. Held stereotypes about other minority groups are now questioned as well. One in the Dissonance stage is also starting to realize that not all beliefs held by the dominant group are valuable or even accurate (Sue & Sue, 2003). Because of the two incidents Antonio endured during his freshman year and their emotional impact on him, he is becoming aware that even though he has “assimilated,” others of the majority group will still identify him as different. Antonio is also experiencing conflict between what members of the minority group (his parents) and the majority group feel are important; his parents believe he
Kwame Appiah, author of Racial Identities, explores the complexity between individual and collective identity. Throughout the text, Appiah attempts to define these complicated notions, noting their similarities and differences. He calls upon the ideas of other philosophers and authors to help formulate his own. Essentially, individual and collective identity are very much intertwined. Appiah argues that collective identities are very much related to behavior. There is not one particular way a certain ethnic group acts, but instead “modes of behavior (Appiah 127).” These behavioral acts provide loose norms or models. However, Appiah also notes that it is how individuals essentially make or allow these collective identities to become central
The first level of the Racial / Cultural Identity Development Model is the conformity level. Conformity means within standards or what is considered to be normal. People in this stage may feel pressured to repress their culture value or identity so that they can feel as if they fit in. “It is reasonable to believe that members of one cultural group tend to adjust themselves to the group possessing the greater prestige and power in order to avoid feelings of inferiority” (Sue & Sue, 2016, p.368). This level is important because it is an example of internalized racism. This means that they view their
the center of our sense of ourselves.” (Treuer, 663). The author demonstrated the model ethnic
Verkuyten, M., and G. A. Kwa. "Ethnic Self-Identification, Ethnic Involvement, and Group Differentiation Among Chinese Youth in the Netherlands." Journal of Social Psychology 136 (1996): 35-48.
· Dashefsky, A. (Eds.). (1976). Ethnic identity in society. Chicago: Rand McNally College Publishing Co. Smith, E.J. (1991). Ethnic identity development: Toward the development of a theory within the context of majority/minority status. Journal of Counseling and Development, 70, 181-187.
“Personal identity occurs during childhood when the child is not aware of his or her mixed heritage. Choice of group categorization occurs as a result of numerous influences (e.g., parents, peers, community, and society). It is during this stage that the individual feels pressured to choose one racial or ethnic group identity over another.
The first stage of Black racial identity development refers to the pre-encounter stage. This depicts the juncture in life when a black American displays a lack awareness of his/her own race and is uninterested in racial differences (to include those that affect Blacks). This stage delineates two types of identities, namely the “anti-Black” and “assimilation“ clusters. The anti-Black pre-encounter stage represents a cluster of black Americans that take pride in White standards, values, and beliefs; they view the White race and culture as emblems of beauty and perfection. These people hold a high level of hatred for the Black race and openly expresses their opinion on the matter. In contrast, the assimilation pre-encounter stage represents a cluster of black Americans that exhibits low salience for being Black. This cluster does not blatantly express hate for the Black race, however, they prefer to identify themselves with being something other than black Americans. They embrace color blindness and maintain a race-neutral demeanor towards humanity. Whether classified within ...
Everyone has a background, a past and a cultural identity. Our cultural identity identifies who we are and where we come from. My cultural identity shows how I talk, what kind of language I speak, what kind of foods I eat, the way I dress and the way I look. Your cultural identity has a lot to do with where you are from and where you are going in life.
Humans, as a whole, are naturally affected by others around them. We all assimilate to be the most likeable and successful we can be. Due to this, we are extremely affected by our upbringing and culture, some argue. Others argue that this is false, as every individual has the ability to choose their outlook on the world. In my opinion, I believe that our culture affects how we view others around us, though we do pick and choose the manner in which we conduct ourselves--either accepting and promoting our cultures, or refusing to acknowledge certain aspects of them.
Everyone has their own special cultural identity that is important to themselves. Cultural identity describes who you are as a person. A Cultural identity is “the identity or feeling of belonging to a group.” Some examples of the types of cultural identity are religion, language, and fashion. My cultural identity is seen through the food I love, the music I like, my state, gaming, and how my generation is today.
Times are changing and I feel like I am forced to conform to the everyday social norms of America, which makes me feel impuissance. Racial identity, which refers to identifying with a social group with similar phenotypes and racial category, is the only experience that I have with life (Organista, 2010). Racial ethnicity was used to build my self-esteem and to keep me in the dark when it came to how society treats individuals of darker complexion. However, once I left the confines of my family and neighborhood, I was forced to befriend and interact with individuals that had different cultural values and beliefs than me. This experience caused me to learn how to appreciate other racial and ethnic groups and their cultural values and belief. This is an accurate definition, of acculturation because I was able to understand and fit in with individuals different from me, while maintaining my own culture and ethnic identity. Therefore, knowing the importance of my ancestry, while acculturating and developing my own identity was all used
The identity of an individual is formed during their adolescent years and the development of that identity plays a crucial role in an individual’s psychological well-being. Intercultural communications concern with identity is how it influences expectations about an individual’s social role and the guidelines it provides for communication and interaction. The texts definition of identity is that it is “abstract, complex, dynamic, and socially constructed” (p. 215). Identity is not easily defined, and many scholars have provided an assortment of descriptions as to what identity is. The numerous definitions are not intended to confuse people, but to show that identity is an abstract concept, which makes constructing a single description agreeable by all difficult. However, identities are not static and change over time, which is a “natural process of life experiences” (p. 215).