Identity is constituted through social action and language rather than merely reflected in behavior

Evidence

This is a familiar idea within several very different branches of sociocultural linguistics: the ethnomethodological concept of ‘doing’ various kinds of identity (e.g. Fenstermaker and West, 2002; Garfinkel, 1967; West and Zimmerman, 1987) and the related conversation-analytic notion of identity as an interactionally relevant accomplishment (e.g. Antaki and Widdicombe, 1998; Aronsson, 1998; Auer, 1998; Kitzinger, n.d.; Moerman, 1993; Sidnell, 2003); the poststructuralist theory of performativity (Butler, 1990), developed from the work of J.L. Austin (1962), as taken up by researchers of language, gender, and sexuality (e.g. Barrett, 1999; Cameron, 1997; Livia and Hall, 1997); and more generally the semiotic concepts of creative indexicality (Silverstein, 1979) and referee design (Bell, 1984). Despite fundamental differences among these approaches, all of them enable us to view identity not simply as a psychological mechanism of self-classification that is reflected in people’s social behavior but rather as something that is constituted through social action, and especially through language. — Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall, Identity and Interaction, 19

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines emergence as identity seen as constituted through social action rather than as a psychological self-classification mechanism.
• XREF: connects to: Identity theories lag behind the linguistic research that has made identity central. — Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall, Identity and Interaction: A…, 4; Identity arises from action and struggle rather than preceding politics — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 121; Identity is constructed through discourse and dialogic interaction, not self-creation — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 23 (+18 more)

Broader Connections

• Identity is transformed by political action, not a precondition of it #corroborates (0.90)
• Identity emerges in discourse rather than preceding it #corroborates (0.90) — Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall, Identity and Interaction, 119
• Identity is constructed through discourse and dialogic interaction, not self-creation #expands (0.88) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 23
• Identity is constructed through opposition to a continuously reinterpreted other #expands (0.88)
• Communities form identity relationally only through encounter with an other #corroborates (0.86) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2678
• Individual identity forms dialogically through a constitutive outside, not autonomously. #expands (0.85) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 363
• Racial identity forms in settings and social exchanges, not just within individuals. #exemplifies (0.85)
• Identity is constituted through relation to what is other and different from itself #expands (0.84) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 378
• Identity arises from action and struggle rather than preceding politics #expands (0.82) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 121
• Racial identity functions as practice and intention, not just appearance #exemplifies (0.80)
• Identity is simultaneously about belonging and about differentiating from others. #expands (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 118
• Identity is both a source of agency and increasingly constructed rather than given #qualifies (0.78)
• Leaders substantiate identity rhetoric through social practices that enact the desired vision #exemplifies (0.78) — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 114
• Cultures differ in whether identity derives from relationships rather than from category membership #qualifies (0.74) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1626
• Social identity derives its value from comparisons against out-groups #qualifies (0.72) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2718