"In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity" Erik Erikson. Our identity is a special identifier inside of the social world and is observed as our own "sense of the self". Identity is an essential aspect of who we are, that consists of our sense of self, gender, race, religion or ethnicity. Our identity locates us in the social world, meticulously affecting everything we do, feel, say and think. Through socialization people acquire culture, specific skills and abilities along with a knowledge of what kind or category of people they are.
To explain the process of the formation of human identity, scientists who devoted their lives to studying the society came up to three major theories of identity's development, such as role learning theory, symbolic interactionism and psychoanalytic theory.…show more content… This theory stresses an importance of learning special role expectations. Roles are social facts that not only constrain people but also conformity expectations of these roles depends upon commitment as well as rewards and punishments. All taken roles eventually becoming a part of our own social identity, also they are creating an image of the basic roles of the society. Second symbolic interactionism theory sees role playing as a creative process, not only as simply replaying things learned during socialization. In this theory, the concept of the self is seen as a glass looking self that reflects the attitudes of others. And just like actors, people present their self to the
