Editors' introduction

Summary

In the general introduction we talked about the interconnectedness of individual and social processes in the formation and presentation of identities. The chapters in Part II look closely at ways in which social processes, ideologies and institutions interact with individual histories, behaviors and needs in the discourse construction of identity in different contexts. The discursive configuration of the self can take shape at many levels and in many ways. It may result, for example, from direct use of categorization devices through which people assign themselves and others to different social groups or sets of social networks. However, often identity claims are made indirectly, for example through the careful insertion and management of stories or through recourse to shared assumptions and social knowledge about the meaning of words used to describe self or others. Also, importantly, identities projected and constructed in interactional situations are the result of reciprocal positionings by the interlocutors and of their negotiations over the pertinence of roles, actions, attitudes and behaviors in certain social situations. Finally, identities interact with ideological prescriptions about roles and relationships in specific domains of social action that assign preferred properties, needs and desires to individuals.

The pressure of ideologies and social conventions on identity production is at the center of Robin Lakoff's contribution (Chapter 5).