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.
Fourth, the pseudoindependence status is the start of the second phase of the Helms’s Model. This second phase includes the building definition of a nonracist White identity. Pseudoindependence contains the individual understanding and being aware that there are racial and ethnic minorities and the unfairness that they may have experienced or may be experiencing. This also means understanding White privilege. The fifth status, immersion/emersion status, involves the search that an individual may make to understand personal meaning of racism and how he or she may benefit from White privilege. The individual in this status will work to stop any biases he/she may contain and begin to advocate to stop racism and oppression. The last status of the Helms White Racial Identity Model is the autonomy status. This status shows the commitment to end privileges of racism and to steer away from any form of
For this study, researcher classified the cultural identity of the participants as traditional, assimilated, bicultural, or marginalized by how they identified with highly with Indian values, highly with white values, ewally with both, or with none.
In today’s society there are many words that are used or said without giving it complete thought. For example, the word “identity” is something to which I have never really given much thought or even considered how I identify myself.
The Social construction of racial formation classified racial groups based upon their skin color to construct their social identity which can include being part of a society, culture, family, groups, etc. Within the article
“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
Ethnic identity is the sum total of group member feelings about those values, symbols, and common histories that identify them as a distinct group (Smith 1991). Development of ethnic identity is important because it helps one to come to terms with their ethnic membership as a prominent reference group and significant part of an individuals overall identity. Ethnic reference group refers to an individuals psychological relatedness to groups (Smith 1991). These reference groups help adolescents sense, reflect and see things from the point of their ethnic groups in which they actively participate or seek to participate.
Involved in social interaction is the concept of a social self. A social self, as explained by George Herbert Mead, is a symbiotic interaction; the individual self is a process of interaction as opposed to a “thing.” In terms of multiracial individuals, this means that they’re social self is developed through communication with themselves and with others. As explained by Shih and Sanchez, multiracial individuals have developed their sense of self by being misunderstood by “white” and non multiracial communities. In terms of the article, if multiracial individuals are feeling like their full self isn’t being accepted, they will view themselves as outcasted and unaccepted by their community. Unfortunately, it is difficult enough for a monoracial individual to feel accepted, let alone a multiracial individual.
The five stages are Stage 1- Antilocution, Stage 2- Avoidance, Stage 3- Discrimination Stage 3B (later added)-Subtle aggression, Stage 4- Physical attacks, and Stage 5- Extermination. Antilocution means speaking against; hate, derogatory speech, and hate speech. This stage of prejudice is perceived as harmless; however, these actions can endanger self-esteem and sabotage a particular group`s self-image. Avoidance is when people avoid someone one something; isolation and exclusion are some synonyms. Exclusion can occur in various forms; this is where xenophobia comes into play. Xenophobia is defined as the fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange. The third stage is discrimination. This means being denied equal access to opportunities, goods, and services. This act`s motive is to incapacitate a group by preventing it from achieving goals, getting education or jobs, and so on. The sub-section to discrimination is subtle aggression, merely an assumption of hierarchy, particularly a hierarchy of power. This is an assumption that somebody has acquired less knowledge because of certain characteristics; such as: age, gender, race,etc. The next...
The model led to the development of an assessment instrument to measure the white racial identity. According to Helms, developing a healthy white identity requires transition through two phases, abandonment of racism, and definition of a non-racist white identity. The two phases are characterized by six distinct racial identity statuses that are equally distributed. They include autonomy, contact, disintegration, immersion/emersion, pseudo independence, and reintegration. I find this model detailed, informative and helpful in understanding the white racial identity (Derald Wing Sue,
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
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.
In the end, despite efforts over 60 years ago to give Untouchables in India more rights, the inequality remains. Indians who are Dalits still face incredible adversity and violence within their home country. Even the most mundane tasks are not so straightforward for an Untouchable, and the threat of being injured is ever-present. True, India is “slowly changing” (“India’s Dalits Still Fighting Untouchability” 2). But things are far from equal, and India still has a long way to go to reach that ideal. As one Untouchable put it, “ ‘We are still Dalit, still broken, still suppressed’ ” (“India’s Dalits Still Fighting Untouchability” 3). Clearly, the Dalits struggle, even now, for the rights that they theoretically should have been given decades ago.
Human right is a dynamic concept and endeavours to adapt itself to the needs of the day. The Dalit human rights have to be taken to the center stage of any political and social movement in the country. Dalits have to spearhead this human right movement and all progressive forces should join their hands with them. In this 21st century it is absolutely necessary that common people need to be sensitized about the prevailing atrocities against Dalits. Education and enlightenment can go a long way to break the social, economic and cultural shackles that have bound Dalits. Capacity building, awareness generation and developing leadership skills among women can help them gain confidence to raise a voice against violence and assert their rights. Dalit organizations, NGOs and Human Rights bodies could play a vital role in the above identified areas. Dalit is a social force, a cultural symbol and has a historical background. Dalit women are estimated to contribute eighty per cent of total labour to strengthen the national economy. Ambedkar rightly said “Rights are protected not by laws but by the social and moral conscience of society”. Dalits are not voiceless, and capable to raise their voice. To conclude, there is a growing need to capture violence of Human Rights of Dalits so that talent and potential of Dalits can be used for development of the nation. Dalits need to be empowered with their basic rights. So, voice of the voiceless is voiced here and that should be heard by society and the mainstream as
Everyone has their own unique identity. For instance, people can relate their identity to their culture, their social surroundings, and their interests. Personal identity can be viewed in a variety of ways. In the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Eric Olson discusses personal identity as the defining factor of a person. “Outside of philosophy, ‘personal identity’ usually refers to certain properties to which a person feels a special sense of attachment or ownership. Someone’s personal identity in this sense consists of those features she takes to ‘define her as a person’ or ‘make her the person she is’” (Olson, par. 5). While considering this definition, identity can be depicted on several levels. A common way to describe personal identity is through a person's background and culture. Although using culture as a descriptive term can be helpful in defining a