Cultural identity: what it is and how it helps us to understand ourselves

Our identity is not something specific to each person: it is created in relationships with others.

The concept of cultural identity has allowed us to think about how we come to recognize ourselves as competent subjects of dynamics and relationships based on specific values, customs and traditions.

In this article we briefly explain what cultural identity isand how this concept has been used to understand various psychological and social phenomena.

What is cultural identity?

Studies on cultural identity date back to the 18th century, that is, to the beginnings of anthropology. the beginnings of anthropology as a social science.. They have followed a very diverse trajectory and have been modified in accordance with the transformations in the definition of the concept of "identity" and also that of "culture".

Among other things, studies on cultural identity have led us to ask whether cultural identity impacts the individual psyche, or is it the opposite process? How does cultural identity relate to local and global processes? Is cultural identity the same as, for example, social identity, national identity, family identity? social identity, national identity or family identity??

Without the intention of answering these questions in detail, but in order to explain more precisely what the concept of "cultural identity" refers to, in this article we will define, on the one hand, the term "identity" and, on the other hand, "culture".

Theories on identity

Identity has been understood in very different ways within the social sciences. There are perspectives from the more traditional psychology that propose that identity is an individual fact, which is fixed in a total, natural and fixed way, with particularities that are specific to each individual..

On the other hand, the more classical proposals of sociology speak of identity as the effect of a series of norms and patterns that people limit themselves to reproducing and putting into practice. On the other hand, the more contemporary proposals of the social sciences tell us that identity is not a fact, but a process.There is, therefore, no beginning and no end, which take place in specific life cycles.

Rather, it is a series of transformations that take place under different circumstances that are neither fixed nor immovable. Identity is, in this sense, understood as the effect of a series of social influences; but it is also understood as the result of one's own agency.

In other words, contemporary theories of identity distance themselves from psychology by considering it as a process mediated by social influences. by considering that it is a process mediated by the influences of the environment; and they also distance themselves from sociology by considering that people do not limit themselves to reproducing these environmental influences, but that we interpret them, choose them, create projects with them, and so on.

Likewise, identity is thought of as the product of establishing a difference, either complementary or antagonistic. That is, the result of recognizing oneself as having characteristics common to a given group, which are at the same time different from the characteristics of other individuals and groups. It is a difference that we establish in order to generating a certainty about who we are individually and collectively.

Culture: some definitions

The concept of culture has been understood and used in very different ways that can be traced back to the North American and European intellectual context of the 18th century. In its origins, the concept of culture was closely related to that of civilizationIt referred to all those qualities that are recognized as necessary for a member to be considered competent in a society.

Culture is later understood as the set of tools, activities, attitudes and forms of organization that enable people to satisfy their needs. For example, from small tasks to social institutions and economic distribution. Already in the 19th century, culture began to be understood in relation to the intellect.culture, as a series of ideas that are reflected in patterns of behavior that the members of a society acquire and share by instruction or imitation. From this point on, culture began to be understood also in relation to the arts, religions, customs and values.

After the intellect, the concept of culture is also understood in a humanistic sense, closely related to individual development, both at the intellectual and spiritual level, which is combined with the activities and interests of a particular community. In this same sense, and along with the development of science, culture is understood as a collective discourse, which is symbolic and articulates values with knowledge.

Finally, and in view of the evident multiplicity of ways of understanding "culture", there is no choice but to begin to think that there is not a single manifestation of it, which generates a new understanding of the same concept. Culture is then understood from the diversity of worldviews and behaviors, including lifestyles and lifestyles of the different cultures.including lifestyles and attitudes that are part of different communities around the world.

In this context, the recognition of cultural diversity was confronted with some reminiscences of the old relationship between culture and civilization, whereby some cultures were understood as superior and others as inferior. Not only that, but culture was set in opposition to nature, and even as an obstacle to economic development, especially when taken to the field of territorial management.

In short, culture is understood in operational terms as the set of traits that distinguish a social group (shared by the same members of the group). These traits are understood as socially acquired and can be spiritual, material or affective. They can also be ways of life, artistic expressions and forms of knowledge, values, beliefs and beliefs of the group.values, beliefs and traditions.

We are part of a group and at the same time individuals.

The traits that are considered to belong to a culture because they are socially acquired, and because they serve as distinguishing features of a group, are elements that give rise to an identity. That is to say, to a process of recognition of oneself before the frameworks of interaction that belong to the social group to which we belong.

These are frameworks that provide us with schemes of reference and identification in accordance with the values of the group itself; and that offer us certainties about the links and about our role in the community. In addition, cultural identity confers on us a series of historical and physical references about our place in the social group. our place in the social group.

For example, the possibilities of recognizing ourselves as women or men, or as people belonging to one class or another, may differ between cultures. The same is true for the identity that corresponds to particular roles and institutions, such as being students, teachers, friends, siblings, family members, and so on.

All these traits give shape to different identity dimensions that coexist different identity dimensions that coexist and shape the and shape the process by which we generate a perception and valuation of ourselves, our group, and others.