The link between myself and others is not only indicated by the connection between how I see myself and how other people see me, but also by the connection between what I want to be and the influences, pressures and opportunities which are available. Material, social and physical constraints prevent us from successfully presenting ourselves in some identity positions – constraints which others. The subject, ‘I’ or ‘we’ in the identity equation, involves some element of choice, however limited. The concept of identity encompasses some notion of human agency; an idea that we can have some control in constructing our own identities. There are, of course, constraints which may lie in the external World.
Identity involves:
· a link between the personal and the social;
· some active engagement by those who take up identities;
· being the same as some people and different from others, as indicated by symbols and representations;
· a tension between how much control I have in constructing my identities and how much control or constraint is exercised over me.
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/people-politics-law/politics-policy-people/sociology/identity-question/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab
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Human Odyssey, the Path to Existentialism (HOPE)