Primary vs. Secondary Identities

‘Who we are’ is arguably one of the most common, simple and yet most important questions to ever be asked. Its importance is derived from the fact that the collection of answers that we might give or obtain comes together to form our identity as individual members of human society. Some of the answers to this question might be things that we have always identified ourselves with, our name, gender, race or ethnicity, others might be things that we have become associated with during the course of our lives, such as our profession, social class or even our hobbies. Some we could consider more important or central when defining who we are, while others we would possibly mention only in passing. More so, the answers themselves might change in time - some might disappear altogether, while other new ones could emerge. This essay will look at the difference between two types of identities that these answers define, as well as the relevance of this distinction in social study and social policy.

In the course of his life as part of society, an individual goes through a continuous process of interaction with other members of that society. This process of socialization stands as an essential factor for the definition of an individual’s identity through the internalization of these interactions or “the immediate apprehension or interpretation of an objective event as expressing meaning, that is, as a manifestation of another’s subjective processes which thereby becomes subjectively meaningful” (Berger and Luckmann, 1972, pp.149-150). Berger and Luckmann (1972) define two distinct stages in the process of socialization, primary and secondary socialization, the former and most important one taking place in the early childhood years of an indiv...

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