43
usasindividualsandwhichwetakeprideinareofcoursethingsthatareimportanttous,
becauseingeneralpeopledesiretothinkwellofthemselves. Quiteoften,weunderstandas
personalidentitythoseaspectsofourselvesthatformthebasisforourself-esteem.
This formulation n helps s explain n how we e understand identity to be e such h a powerful
motivatorofactionandhowmattersofidentitycanengagesuchdeepandpowerfulemotions.
Whyisitthatactionsthat\violateone’sidentity"mayberejectedalmostindependentof
theirmaterialconsequences? Quiteoften,theansweristhatsuchactionswouldundermine
aperson’s basis forthinkingwell l of himself or r herself. . Thus, , statements s such as \ethnic
con
ictsareparticularlypronetoviolencebecausetheyinvolvemattersofidentity"might
beexplainedasfollows:Ethniccon
ictsarepronetoviolencebecausemembershipinethnic
categoriesisoftenanimportantbasisforpeoples’senseofself-worthordignity,andthreatsto
thissenseareingenerallikelytoproducepowerfulemotionalreactions.
30
Thisformulation
also suggests s a a straightforwardexplanation for why nationalism, , particularly y in n its s more
\ethnic" articulations, , often seems s to appealmost strongly to people with relatively low
socio-economicstatus.
31
Ifoccupationandsocialrankarenotavailableassources ofself-
esteembecauseoneacceptstheprevailingvaluationofsuchsocialcategories,thennational
and ethnic categories (in which membership p is s automatic) may y be e invested with greater
signicance.
32
30
Horowitz(1985,chap. 3)developstheargumentthatethniccon
ictingeneralresultsfromthepursuit
ofafeelingofcomparativeself-worth. SeealsoTajfel(1982)andsocialidentitytheoryinsocialpsychology
moregenerally. Calhoun(1991)isaexampleofthiskindofargumentinanonethnicsetting.
31
An often-citedinstanceisthesuccessofnationalismatmobilizingworkersforwarin1914,tothepuz-
zlementandconsternationofsocialistleadersatthetime. Seealsothebriefessayonthepsychologicalbasis
ofBalkannationalismbyDaniloKis,reprintedinThompson(1992,336). Hewrites\Thiskindofprole,
which ts all l nationalists, can n be freelyelaborated toits conclusion: : thenationlist t is,as arule,equally
piingas asocialbeingand as anindividual... . heis s anonentity."Margalitand Raz(1990)arguethat
nationalidentityisappealingasalocusforpoliticalrightspreciselybecauseitistypicallyamatterofbirth
ratherthan achievement,andthegoodofself-respectismorereliablyfoundedonsomethingthatcan’tbe
takenawayfromus.
32
As Laitin(1998)suggests,itmightbeinterestingtothinkofthisin Hirschman’s (1970) ) termsofexit
(tryingtoavoidthehumiliatingconsequencesofmembershipinonecategorybydeningoneselfintermsof
another,morehighlyvaluedcategory),voice(mobilizingtotrytochangethesocialvaluationofacategory
towhichoneisassigned),andloyalty(acceptingmembershipinapoorlyvaluedcategoryasone’sfateand
essence).
24
31
Onceagain,however,this statement ofthe concept’smeaning{personalidentity is
thoseaspectsofapersonthatformthebasisforhisorhersenseofself-worthanddistinction
{isopentonon-trivialcounterexamples. Considerthefollowingtwo.First,anelderlyman
orwomanwhohaslivedinthesameneighborhoodformanyyearsandhasaveryestablished
dailyroutineandpersonalstyle.Itisperfectlypossiblethatthepersontakesnospecialpride
inmanyaspectsofthisroutineandstyle.Itisjustalong-establishedhabitualwayofliving.
Consider the question\Why don’tyoubuy thatpair ofshoes,or that car,or why don’t
youtakeayogaclass?"Althoughtheanswermightnotbephrasedintermsof\identity,"
wewould recognize(orlabel)areply y like\Ijust couldneverdothat"or \Ijustcouldn’t
imaginemyselfdoingthat"asbeingastatementofpersonalidentity.Tosay\themancould
notdothisbecauseitwasinconsistentwithhisidentity"wouldbeaperfectly respectable
usageoftheterm. Andthismightbethecaseevenifthemanwasnotsaying(ineect)\I
can’tdothisbecauseitisinconsistentwiththeprinciplesofactionofthesocialcategoryI
amamember of"or\Ican’tdothisbecauseitwouldgoagainstsomeaspectofmyselfin
whichItakeaspecialpride."
Forthe secondcounterexample, , consider r amanwhotries foryearsto livea typical
heterosexuallife,buteventuallydecides\Ican’tkeepdoingthis.TryasImighttodenyit,
IhavetoacceptthefactthatIamgay. Thisisjustafactaboutmyidentity,orwhoIam."
Thisisagainaperfectlyrespectableusageoftheword,butinthisexamplethepersontakes
nospecialprideinwhatheconcludestobeacrucialcomponentofhis(personalandsocial)
identity.Rather,itmayevenbesomethingheisashamedof.
Idon’tknowhowtotreatthesecounterexamplesexceptalittlearbitrarily. Hencethe
denition:
Personalidentityisasetofattributes,beliefs,desires,orprinciplesofactionthat
apersonthinks distinguishherinsociallyrelevantways andthat(a)theperson
takes a specialpridein; ; (b) ) the persontakes nospecial l pride e in, , but t whichso
orientherbehaviorthatshewouldbeatalossabouthowtoactandwhattodo
withoutthem;or(c)thepersonfeelsshecouldnotchangeevenifshewantedto.
Conditions(b)and(c)areintendedtodealwiththecounterexamples. (b)recognizes
thatwesometimes interpretpersonalidentityintermsofaset ofprinciples orrules that
25
30
fundamentally orient andstructure our behaviorbutwhichmay have littlemoralcontent
orsignicanceasbasesofself-esteem;theyarejustruleswithoutwhichwewouldn’tknow
howtoactorwhattodo.(c)recognizesthatwecanunderstandpersonalidentitytoinvolve
desiresthatweexperienceasbeyondourcontrol,ormembershipinasocialcategorythat
wecannotescapeevenifwewouldliketo,independentofhowsuchdesiresorsocialidentity
enterintoourself-esteem.
7 ExplainingActionswithIdentities
Above,Inotedthat ifweseethat oneside ofthemeaning of\identity" isessentially the
basisofone’sdignityorselfrespect,itbecomeslessmysterioushowthisambiguousconstruct
canpowerfully motivateactions. . InthissectionIusetheprecedinganalysis s oftheword’s
currentmeaningto developa broader account ofthedierent ways thatidentity may be
involvedintheexplanationofaction. Especially y insocialscience,scholars oftenwantthe
conceptofidentitytodothis kindofwork. . Indeed,someviewidentity y asinterestingand
importantpreciselybecauseitisthoughttoexplainactionsthatotherapproaches,suchas
rationalchoice,cannot.Alternatively,itisarguedthatstandardrationalistorintentionalist
explanationsofactionmustpresumeorrestonanaccountofidentitiestobeginwith.
33
A
clearaccountofthemeaningof\identity"wouldseemtobeapreconditionformakingsuch
argumentscoherent.
Followingtheanalysisabove,Iwouldarguethatidentitycangureintotheexplanation
of action in two main ways, which parallelthe two sides of the word’s present meaning.
Recallthat\identity"canmeaneitherasocialcategoryor,inthesenseofpersonalidentity,
distinguishingfeaturesofapersonthatformthebasisofhisorherdignityorself-respect.
Accordingly,\identity"canexplainactionseitherinthesensethatmembershipinasocial
categorycanexplainactions,orinthesensethatthedesiretogainordefendone’sdignity
orself-respectcanexplainactions.
33
Forexamplesofbothviewsininternationalrelations,seeWendt(1994)andRingmar(1996).
26
35
7.1 Actionsexplained d byreferencetosocialcategories
Someexamples:
1.Why didAgrababottle,pouradrink,handittoB,andtakesomemoney fromB?
BecauseAisabartender.
2.Luckily,therewasadoctorontheairplane,whowasabletoresuscitatetheheartattack
victimwithCPR.
3.Thoughshewasextremelytired,shemadepleasantsmalltalkbecauseshewasaguest
intheirhouse.
4.TheGermansintheroomchosenottoparticipateinthesingingoftheMarseillaise.
5.Whyishewearingaturban?BecauseheisaSikh.
Weconstantlyexplainactionsbyreferringtomembershipinsocialcategories(andthus
toidentitiesinthissense). Intheshortformillustratedbytheexamples,theseareoften
\explanationsketches"whichmaynotbenotverygoodexplanationsbythemselves. How,
then,doesagoodexplanation-by-reference-to-a-social-categorywork?
Unpacked, an explanation of f action n by reference e to o social l identity is s frequently y an
explanation interms s of f social norms, or r standards of f conduct that cantake the generic
form\Goodpeopledo(ordonotdo) XinsituationsA,B,C ..."
34
WhatIearlier called
thecontentofasocialcategoryis frequently madeupofnorms attachedtoorassociated
withmembershipinthecategory. Thisistrueforroleidentities,likebartender,professor,
orprimeminister;fortypeidentities,likenationality,ethnicity,sexuality,andgender;and
forsocialcategoriesthathavestrongelementsofbothroleandtype,likemotherorfather.
Thus,explaining aperson’s actionby referring toasocialidentity frequently amounts to
sayingthatthepersonwasfollowinganormassociatedwiththecategory,asineachofthe
examplesgivenabove.Theexamplescantakethegeneralform\MembersofcategoryXare
supposedtodo(oroughttodo)YinsituationsA,B,C..."
34
ThisslightlymodiesElster’s(1989,98)formulation{\Thesimplestsocialnormsareofthetype‘DoX’,
or‘Don’tdoX’"{whichIthinkmistakenlyincludesrulesofprudencesuchas\Alwayslockyourcar."We
typicallydonotconsideraruleofconducttobeasocialnormunlessasharedmoralassessmentisattached
toitsobservanceornon-observance. Elsterrecognizesthiswhenheaddstheconditionthat\Fornormsto
besocial,theymustbe(a)sharedbyotherpeopleand(b)partlysustainedbytheirapprovalordisapproval"
(1989,99,emphasisinoriginal).
27
32
Thereareotherwaysbesidesreferencetosocialnormsthatsocialidentitycanbeheld
toexplainchoices. Forinstance,themembersofasocialcategorymightbeunderstoodto
sharecertainbeliefs,desires (preferences),orhabitsthatmighthelpexplaintheiractions,
even thoughthe beliefs,desires,or habits have no normativeaspect. . Inotherwords,the
content ofasocialcategorymayincludeother things besidesnorms. . Forexample,\Why
is hetalking soloudly? ? BecauseheisanAmerican" " explainsanactionbyreferringto a
preferenceorhabitsaidtobecharacteristicofmembersofacategory,butitisnotthecase
thatAmericansaresupposedtotalkloudly.
Nonetheless,explanationbyreferencetosocialidentitymostoftenamountstoexplana-
tionbyreferencetosocialnormsassociatedwiththerelevantsocialcategory(orcategories).
Thenextnaturalquestion,then,ishowexactlydoesinvokingasocialnormexplainanac-
tion? WhileIcannotdojusticetothisproblemhereoranywhere,afewremarkssuceto
showthatsocialidentityasanexplanatoryconceptstandsinforexplanationinmorebasic
terms,andtosuggestthatweoftenwouldbebetterogoingtotheheartofthematter{
explanationintermsofnorms.
Afullexplanationofanactioninterms ofanormassociatedwithanidentityneeds
todoatleasttwothings. First,wewouldliketoknowwhatistheperson’smotivationor
reasonforactinginaccordwiththenorm,andthus,withthedictatesofthesocialidentity.
Second,wemaywantanaccountofwhythisparticularactionisanorm,ratherthanother
possibilities. Forinstance,whyareSikhmensupposedtowearturbans?
Bothquestions canhavemultipleanswers. . Ontherst,anysubsetofthefollowing
motivationsandreasonsmayexplainwhyoneabideswithanorminparticularcases:
1.Onemight believe that followingthenormistheright thingtodo,whetherbecause
ofearly socializationor one’s independentjudgement andexperience. . Relatedly,one
mightwanttofollowthenormbecause onewouldthink badly ofoneselfotherwise {
failingtofollowthenormwouldundermineone’spride,dignity,orself-respect. (This
isoftencalled\internalization.")
2.Onemightbemotivatedtofollowthenormbecauseonedesirestheapprovalofothers,
irrespectiveofanyactionstheymighttake.
3.One might want to follow a normbecause otherwise one will l be e sanctioned (or not
rewarded)bytheactionsofothers. Forinstance,abartendermayfollowthenormsof
28
Documents you may be interested
Documents you may be interested