1. Society as concept and reality
society
noun (plural societies) 1 [mass noun] the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community: drugs, crime, and other dangers to society. • the community of people living in a particular country or region and having shared customs, laws, and organizations: the ethnic diversity of British society | [count noun] : modern industrial societies. • [with adjective] a specified section of society: no one in polite society uttered the word. • (also high society) the aggregate of people who are fashionable, wealthy, and influential, regarded as forming a distinct group in a community: [as modifier] : a society wedding. • [count noun] a plant or animal community: the analogy between insect society and human urban society is not new.
[mass noun] the situation of being in the company of other people: she shunned the society of others.
sociology
noun [mass noun]
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life.[1][2][3] Regarded as a part of both the social sciences and humanities, sociology uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis[4]: 3–5 to develop a body of knowledge about social order and social change.[4]: 32–40 Sociological subject matter ranges from micro-level analyses of individual interaction and agency to macro-level analyses of social systems and social structure. Applied sociological research may be applied directly to social policy and welfare, whereas theoreticalapproaches may focus on the understanding of social processes and phenomenological method.[5]
2. Identity as a foundation for being
Identity:
noun (plural identities)
1 the fact of being who or what a person or thing is: he knows the identity of the bombers : she believes she is the victim of mistaken identity.
• the characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is: he wanted to develop a more distinctive Scottish identity.
• [as modifier] (of an object) serving to establish who the holder, owner, or wearer is by bearing their name and often other details such as a signature or photograph: an identity card.
2 a close similarity or affinity: an identity between the company’s own interests and those of the local community.
Other adopted meanings: individuality, self, selfhood, ego, personality, character, originality, distinctiveness, distinction, singularity, peculiarity, uniqueness, differentness.
To secure an identity of interests: identicalness, sameness, selfsameness, oneness, congruity, congruence, indistinguishability, interchangeability; likeness, alikeness, uniformity, similarity, closeness, accordance, alignment, parallelism, symmetry.
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Identity as determined by place
Whether the place of origin be birthplace, environment, climate, topography, emergence, society, culture, migration or passage.
3. How do you identify within your society?
Identity as a human concept for defining oneself, or even as a word, has been through the social evolutionary wringer.
So we need to reconsider the original meaning of the very popular word ‘identity’, before applying it to any modern day context, position in society, or personal social status.
This is Lucia Anna Joyce, 1907 – 1982. She was a professional dancer and the daughter of Irish writer James Joyce and Nora Barnacle. She was treated by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, Lucia was diagnosed as schizophrenic in the mid-1930s and institutionalised at the Burghölzli psychiatric clinic in Zurich. In 1951, she was transferred to St Andrew’s Hospital in Northampton, where she remained until her death in 1982. Ever heard of her?
So ‘identity’ is pretty much confined to your name, the names of your parents, your current address, mobile number, passport, library card, or any document that identifies you within the social structure and functional social systems you are a member of at any given time.
What is the ‘identity’ of being?
We all create our own identities, in terms of how we see ourselves and how we behave in the world, there is nobody else to blame for making us who we think and feel we are as individuals. But to truly ‘know’ who and what we are, we have to cast out the dependence on ‘identity’.
One’s idea of identity is really just how we define our own story – our memories and experiences, our achievements and failures, and how those happenings are recalled when our ‘identity’ is challenged or questioned. But there is nothing real, certain or permanent in our remembered stories of past events, and that doesn’t stop us from abusing, or enhancing, those stories to instil a narcissistic, toxic or self-destructive personality, or a kind-hearted, generous, empathic personality. Our personal stories over time have great value – positive, mindful and meaningful recall can provide emotional relief, the ability to recognise opportunity, to promote open-mindedness and wider awareness of our immediate circumstances and challenges, this is why and what we live for, it seems.
Life IS a roller-coaster, the only motivating and active force is what happens from one moment to the next, one step at a time – nobody really knows what happens around the corner, we just ‘trust’ that what we expect to happen, will happen. But we also know how this is an illusion constructed from the ‘data-set’ that is our identity story. This illusion, like everything else we encounter, will have a positive and negative aspect working together, this can confuse our perception of the outcome and cause us to ‘manifest’ whatever is imagined as the outcome, hence the old adage, ‘Be careful what you wish for’.
The author visiting with friends on the terrace of their hill house beside Los Bunkers del Carmel, anti-aircraft Spanish Civil War fortifications built in 1938, now a popular graffiti covered tourist attraction considered one of the best views over Barcelona.
How our identity defines us all
The stories we tell ourselves are the stories we believe about ourselves, and they are the stories we tell others, so to define and ‘defend’ our social status or position within our current circumstances, which even though we know are always changing, we carry on acting as if they are our permanent state of being. This stage of being can become very narrow perspective and can lead us into a gullible and vulnerable state, where we become susceptible to the power of suggestion, which can put our ‘identity’ under threat.
An example of the exploitation of a person’s ‘identity’ would be rapid fire, instant gratification, social media marketing, and personalised advertising on every screen or page, based on user behaviour, perceived interests, and random interest searches.
