Social Identity

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Recommended: Essays on social identity theory

Social identity is what everyone is focused on, but most definitely not their favorite matter. In the words of Peter J. Burke, “Social identity theorists have argued that because people define themselves in terms of their social group membership and enact roles as part of their acceptance of the normative expectations of ingroup members, the concept of role is subsumed under the concept of group” (4). All this society is focused on is finding where everyone fits in it. And if the people do not fit perfectly in whichever faction they may choose, they are exiled into being factionless. This is beginning to sound more and more like a “perfect” society, isn’t it? “People who get these kinds of results are…’ She looks over her shoulder like she expects someone to appear behind her, ‘are called… Divergent.’ She says the last word so quietly I almost don’t hear it, and her tense, worried look returns” (Roth 22). The fact that when Tris gets these results, Tori Wu—the person who administers the aptitude test for her—is completely and utterly terrified for her being divergent, shows how dark their society is. It is modeled in such a “cookie-cutter” way, that if someone does not exactly fit in the way that the society wants them to, they are automatically an outsider. Tris constantly fights social identity all throughout the book; it is almost like peer pressure, but from society alone. With this social identity, one is usually classified in terms of what group they belong to. According to critic Kay Deaux, “to the extent that one defines oneself in terms of a particular group, it affects the behaviors one enacts for oneself and the way one interacts with others who may be members of a different group.” This quote explains how differently i...

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...opia: An Elusive Vision. New York, NY: Twayne Publishers, 1993. 11, 12.
Print.
Garity, Joshua. “Crossroads: Making Life Changing Decisions.” Joshua Garity. N.p, N.d. Web.
28 April 2014.
Giddens, Anthony. Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age.
Standford, CA: Stanford University Press,1991. 187-201. Print.
Levitas, Ruth. The Concept of Utopia. Great Britain: Peter Lang International Academic
Publishers, 1990. 36. Print.
Muench, Frederick. “The Burden of Choice.” Psychology Today. N.p., November 1, 2010. Web.
29 April 2014.
Olson, Eric T. “Personal Identity.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. N.p., 2010. Web. 22
April 2014.
Roth, Veronica. Divergent. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2011. Print.
Shoemaker, David. “Personal Identity and Ethics.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Broadview Press, 2010. Web. 22 April 2014.

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