Explain how personal and social identity are constructed through interaction, roles and group membership in contemporary Australian society.

What this dot point is asking

You must distinguish personal from social identity, explain how the self is built through social interaction and group membership, and apply this to multicultural Australia.

Personal and social identity

Identity has two linked layers. Personal identity is what makes someone an individual: their personality, memories, tastes and sense of their own story. Social identity is the part of the self that comes from belonging to social groups and categories. A person might describe themselves as a Sudanese-Australian Muslim woman, a nurse, a netball player and a Geelong supporter; each label is a social identity that links them to a group and carries expectations.

The self is built through interaction

Identity is not something people simply have inside them; it is produced in interaction with others. The idea of the looking-glass self captures this: we imagine how we appear to others, imagine their judgement of us, and then develop our self-feeling accordingly. A student repeatedly told they are good at art begins to see artistic ability as part of who they are. This is why socialisation in family, school, peer groups and media is so powerful in shaping identity, and why the people around us influence the self we become.

Roles and the social self

Much of identity is organised around roles, the sets of expected behaviours attached to a position such as student, employee, parent or friend. People perform different roles in different settings, sometimes presenting themselves differently to different audiences. When the demands of two roles clash, such as being a parent and a full-time worker, a person experiences role conflict, which can shape how they see themselves and the choices they make.

Group membership and belonging

A central source of identity is the in-group, the groups a person feels they belong to, contrasted with out-groups they do not. Belonging to an in-group provides identity, loyalty and self-esteem, but it can also produce stereotyping and prejudice toward out-groups. Sporting allegiances, school communities, ethnic communities and online fandoms all work this way, giving members a shared identity that defines who is inside and who is outside.

Multiple and hybrid identities in Australia

In a diverse society people rarely have a single identity. They hold multiple identities that become relevant in different situations. Many young Australians have a hybrid identity that blends a family heritage culture, mainstream Australian culture and global influences from media and the internet. A second-generation Vietnamese-Australian might speak Vietnamese at home, follow the AFL, and belong to a global gaming community, drawing on all three without contradiction. This blending is increasingly normal and is a key theme of contemporary Society and Culture.

Identity, tension and change

Holding multiple identities can create tension. People may feel caught between the expectations of a heritage culture and a peer group, or experience an identity crisis when a major role is lost, such as through retirement or migration. At the social level, debates about national identity, recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identity, and the place of religious identity in public life show that identity is contested, not settled.

Connection to the rest of the course

This dot point deepens the idea of culture and socialisation by focusing on the individual outcome: the self. It links forward to power, because some identities carry more status and advantage than others, and to globalisation, which multiplies the cultural influences available for identity. When you analyse a contemporary issue, asking whose identity is at stake and how it is being recognised or denied is often the sharpest way into the human dimension of the problem.