What is identity, and how is it socially constructed?
Identity and the social construction of identity: personal and social identity, how identities are formed through socialisation and interaction, and the idea that identity is increasingly chosen rather than fixed.
An SQA Higher Sociology answer on identity and its social construction. Covers personal and social identity, how identities such as class, gender and ethnic identity are formed through socialisation and interaction, the idea that identity is socially constructed rather than natural, and the view that identity is increasingly a matter of choice.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
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What this dot point is asking
The SQA wants you to explain identity and what it means to say identity is socially constructed: the difference between personal and social identity, how identities are formed, and the debate over how far identity is now a matter of choice. This ties the Culture and Identity area together, because class, gender and ethnic identity are all examples of socially constructed identity.
The answer
Personal and social identity
Identity is socially constructed
The self in interaction
Is identity increasingly chosen?
Why this matters
Seeing identity as socially constructed is what allows sociologists to study class, gender and ethnic identity as social patterns that can change, rather than as fixed facts of nature. The next dot points apply this idea to each in turn.
Examples in context
Gender identity illustrates social construction clearly. A child is not born knowing how to be a girl or a boy in their society; they learn it through gender-role socialisation by the family, school, peers and media, absorbing the norms, dress and behaviour their culture expects, and they come to see themselves through how others treat and label them. Because what counts as masculine or feminine varies between cultures and changes over time, gender identity is clearly shaped by society rather than fixed by biology alone. A postmodernist would add that people today have more freedom to choose and express identity through lifestyle and consumption, while others stress that class and ethnicity still shape identity strongly. Weighing this construction against the growing room for choice is exactly the judgement a "socially constructed" answer should reach.
Try this
Q1. Explain the difference between personal and social identity. [4 marks]
- Cue. Personal identity is what makes someone an individual; social identity is the sense of belonging to groups such as class, gender or ethnicity.
Q2. Explain how interaction shapes a person's sense of self. [4 marks]
- Cue. We come to see ourselves partly as others see us, responding to how we are treated and labelled, so the self develops in social life.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of SQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
SQA Higher specimen8 marksExplain what sociologists mean by the social construction of identity.Show worked answer →
An -mark "explain" question. Markers want an accurate meaning developed with examples.
The social construction of identity means identity is not fixed or natural but is shaped by society, through socialisation and interaction. We come to see ourselves through the norms, labels and expectations of our culture, so identities such as class, gender and ethnic identity are products of society rather than biology.
Develop it by linking to socialisation and to how others see and label us, with an example such as gender identity being learned through gender-role socialisation. This earns the developed marks.
SQA Higher 201912 marksAnalyse the view that identity is socially constructed.Show worked answer →
A -mark "analyse" question. Markers reward developed explanation supported by the agents and concepts, and a judgement.
Strong answers explain that identity is formed through socialisation and interaction: the family, school, peers and media pass on the norms and labels through which we see ourselves, and the self develops by seeing ourselves as others see us. They support this with class, gender and ethnic identity.
Analysis marks come from weighing the social-construction view against the idea that identity is increasingly chosen (postmodernism) and any biological element. A clear judgement, that identity is mainly socially constructed, is the discriminator.
Related dot points
- Culture, norms, values, roles and status, the idea of cultural diversity, and the nature versus nurture debate about how far human behaviour is innate or learned.
An SQA Higher Sociology answer on culture and the nature versus nurture debate. Covers the meaning of culture, norms, values, roles and status, cultural diversity including subcultures, and the debate over how far human behaviour is innate (nature) or learned through socialisation (nurture).
- Socialisation: how people learn the norms and values of their society, the difference between primary and secondary socialisation, and the main agents of socialisation including the family, education, peers, the media and religion.
An SQA Higher Sociology answer on socialisation. Covers how people learn the norms and values of their society, the difference between primary and secondary socialisation, the main agents (family, education, peer group, media and religion), and how socialisation reproduces culture and shapes identity.
- Social class and identity: how class is defined and measured, how class shapes identity and life chances, and the debate over whether class identity is declining in modern society.
An SQA Higher Sociology answer on social class and identity. Covers how class is defined and measured, how class shapes identity, culture and life chances, the evidence that class still matters, and the debate over whether class identity is declining as postmodernists argue.
- Gender and identity: the difference between sex and gender, how gender identity is formed through gender-role socialisation, the agents involved, and the debate over how far gender is socially constructed.
An SQA Higher Sociology answer on gender and identity. Covers the difference between sex and gender, how gender identity is formed through gender-role socialisation by the family, school, peers and media, the feminist view that gender is socially constructed, and the debate with biological explanations.
- The interactionist (social action) perspective: how it explains society from the bottom up through meanings, labelling and the self, the key concepts, and its strengths and weaknesses compared with structural perspectives.
An SQA Higher Sociology answer on interactionism, the social action perspective. Covers how interactionists explain society from the bottom up through shared meanings, labelling and the self-fulfilling prophecy, key thinkers such as Mead and Becker, and how the perspective differs from and is criticised by structural perspectives.
Sources & how we know this
- SQA Higher Sociology Course Specification (C868 76) — SQA (2019)