In The Defining Decade, Dr. Meg Jay defines identity capital as “collection of personal assets” (6). She explains how it is something that is build over time; it can define who you are from the way you speak, how you solve issues or where you are from. Furthermore, the strengths you acquire through time can help you when you enter the adult market. The Defining Decade helped me recognize my own identity capital in my personal life and at work. Embracing my culture, learning new job skills and going to college have helped shape my identity capital.
My first piece of identity capital comes from embracing my culture and being proud of who I am. I am Tibetan, ever since I was young I have always felt out of place because my skin color is paler
than most Tibetans. People always looked at me differently, gave me odd looks or made fun of me. When I moved to America I felt even more alienated by this new country because of my broken English and of where I was from. Prior to coming to America, I attended boarding school, there were so many cultural shocks and I felt like I needed to fit in. Therefore I became embarrassed of my ethnicity and culture and tried to be “American”. In middle school I joined Tibetan dancing and met people who were like me, we shared the same background and I began to be feel proud of who I am and that feeling of shame went away. Joining Tibetan dancing was a significant moment in my life because I learned that there is nothing to be ashamed of my beautiful culture. This contribute to my identity capital because I learned how to appreciate myself and where I come from. My second piece of identity capital is from the restaurant I work at. I started working there last May and have since learned many different skills. I learned how to navigate customer service, the importance of communicating with your co-workers, multitasking, being patient and how to work fast and efficient. My first few days of work I wanted to give up because I found it hard and I made many mistakes, but I eventually learned how to learn from every mistake I made. My work taught me how to deal with customers even those with attitudes and the significance of patience, which I know will benefit me in the future because I want to become a registered nurse, I can use this skill with my patients and build my trust with them. I also learned how to multitask because when I work alone I have to take orders and serve the food at the same time. When I know I am working by myself I prepare ahead of time, I get all the napkins, chopsticks and other utensils in place before it gets busy. This experience can help me in the future to organize my thoughts and not to do things last minute. My last identity capital is that I learned to be independent. Since I started working I don’t rely on my parents as much as I used to in high school. Now I pay my own bills and I sometimes help my family out like buying groceries or paying for dinner. Another factor that helped me be an independent adult is college. In college there’s no one to help you unless you reach out to someone. I try to grab any opportunities that come my way and apply to as many grants as I can. I know this skill will help me in the future because it has taught me not to rely on other people which only further builds my identity capital. In conclusion, figuring out your identity capitals helps me to learn my strengths and make room for the ones I don’t have. Because I agree with Dr. Jay that “Identity capital is how we build ourselves- bit by bit, overtime” (7). These experiences didn’t come out of thin air but I went out of my comfort zone and opened doors for new opportunities that helped me build identity capital which I can use in my future.
Before beginning the explanation of how an identity is formed, one must understand what an identity is. So, what is identity? To answer this, one might think of what gives him individuality; what makes him unique; what makes up his personality. Identity is who one is. Identity is a factor that tells what one wants out of life and how he is set to get it. It tells what kind of a person one is by the attitude and persona he has. And it depends upon the mixture of all parts of one’s life including personal choices and cultural and societal influences, but personal choices affect the identity of one more than the others.
Although the concept of identity is recurrent in our daily lives, it has interpreted in various ways.
Identity is a group of characteristics, data or information that belongs exactly to one person or a group of people and that make it possible to establish differences between them. The consciousness that people have about themselves is part of their identity as well as what makes them unique. According to psychologists, identity is a consistent definition of one’s self as a unique individual, in terms of role, attitudes, beliefs and aspirations. Identity tries to define who people are, what they are, where they go or what they want to be or to do. Identity could depend on self-knowledge, self-esteem, or the ability of individuals to achieve their goals. Through self-analysis people can define who they are and who the people around them are. The most interesting point about identity is that some people know what they want and who they are, while it takes forever for others to figure out the factors mentioned before. Many of the individuals analyzed in this essay are confused about the different possible roles or positions they can adopt, and that’s exactly the reason they look for some professional help.
Identity is very important in a person’s life. It can induce pride or shame, provide a community or provide a way to distinguish one’s self from others. But, where does this identity come from? It is easy to assume we are who we are because of who raised us, but this is not the entire case. Andrew Solomon, author of “Far from the Tree” introduced two different forms of identity, vertical and horizontal. He defines vertical identity as the attributes acquired and shared by the people we are raised by and horizontal identity as the attributes different from those who raised us, but are shared and acquired through a peer community. These two types of identities generally do not intersect and, depending on the circumstance, one can greatly impact
Identity, in general, is the way people are molded through the experiences of one’s life. The text Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks portrays the validity of the quote by Bernice Johnson Region “Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are”. Aspects of one’s life is determined by multiple influential factors, that may result in positive or even negative effects such as family, cultural/social expectations, class structure and social inequality, and race.
Culture and identity are two very strange ideas. They are received at a very young age, yet they are very hard to give to someone else. They will affect you for the rest or your life, yet for the most part you are born into them. However, they soon become very important to us and we cannot, no matter what we do, live without them. They are a part of us, and a vital aspect of society. However, it took me a very long time to recognize that I had an identity and a little while after that before I knew what it was.
Identity is important because it defines who we are as a person and it reflects on our values, culture, belief, and self-image. In addition, it is something that each person differs from one another. Each person has a different experience and mindset of what is considered to be their role in society or as an individual. According to Richard Rodriguez, the writer of the autobiography essay “Aria,” for a
What is meant by Identity? Identity is a universal characteristic of which one can be recognized. One can be recognized by their race, gender, sexuality, family or social class. Identities shape a person that help them get through the journey to their dream and life. Factors like gender and family play a vital role in shaping a person’s individual identity. Gender identity is one’s perception of the activities that is “masculine” and “feminine.” Family identity can be seen in one’s family values and culture. Family plays a vital part in one’s gender identity. In today’s world, Identity is a major part of life, it defines who we are, where we come from. A person’s
What is identity? Identity is an unbound formation which is created by racial construction and gender construction within an individual’s society even though it is often seen as a controlled piece of oneself. In Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum’s piece, “The Complexity of Identity: ‘Who Am I?’, Tatum asserts that identity is formed by “individual characteristics, family dynamics, historical factors, and social and political contexts” (Tatum 105). Tatum’s piece, “The Complexity of Identity: ‘Who Am I?’” creates a better understanding of how major obstacles such as racism and sexism shape our self identity.
This is a journey of self-discovery to understand the fundamental meaning of what makes me, me? All of us have a unique identity and culture. An Identity are a sets of social expectations related to ourselves and others that are grounded in the interplay between similarities and differences and pertain to the personal, relational, and communal aspects of lives (Hall, 102). In other words, it is our identity that makes us who we are. On the other hand, Culture is defined as a historically shared system of symbolic resources through which we make our world meaningful (Hall, 4). Culture is how we as individuals make sense of the world. So what is Cultural Identity? Cultural Identity allows us as individuals to feel a sense of belonging to a particular
In the twentieth century, musicians were very open to change. Many new styles and genres were made. In a way, they got rid of all of the rules and created new ones. Composers, trying new things, created ragtime, jazz. Some of the new approaches towards tonality were atonality, polytonality, neotonality and the twelve-tonal methods. Different styles were impressionism, expressionism, neoclassicism, primitivism and minimalism. Composers trying to create completely new sounds produced experimental music, spatial music, and electronic music. Not all composers aimed for completely new things. Some wanted to continue the traditions of old classical composers while also finding ways to make their music relevant in their time. All of these elements together are what characterize the twentieth century and what influences much of our music today.
In conclusion, the formation of one’s identity has many components. Beginning at the onset of adolescence and continuing to expand, grow and form and reform as we live through the struggles or success of life. Many theorists have endeavored to clarify the development of identity formation. However, Erik Erickson offered one significant theory involving the formation of one’s identity. Expounding on Erickson theory, Marcia developed his Identity Status Model according to the existence or absence of crisis and commitments. These four statuses, diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium and achievement can combine in various ways to produce a self. One’s sense of identity is determined largely by the choices and commitments made, therefore, having a well-developed sense of self can provide an individual with insight to their strengths, weaknesses, and individual uniqueness. An individual that finds themselves
Identity is a person’s socially and historically constructed concept. We learn and determine our own identity through the interactions of family, peers, media and also other connections that we have encounter in our life. Gender, social class, age and experience of the world are the key concepts which plays a substantial role in shaping how we are by facing obstacles in our lives. According to Mead (1934) as cited in Thulin, Miller, Secher, and Colson (2009), identity theory determines
Burke, P.J. & Stets, J.E. (2000). Identity Theory and Social Identity Theory. Social Psychology Quarterly 63(3), 224-237
In this reflective paper, I discuss several aspects of my race, ethnicity, and culture that has made me who I am, and impacted my overall individual identity.