During their development, each person repeatedly faces turning points, which can be accompanied by despair, resentment, helplessness, and sometimes anger. The reasons for such conditions can be different, but the most common is the subjective perception of the situation, in which people perceive the same events with different emotional overtones.
Psychology of crisis
The problem of finding a way out of the crisis last years reached one of the leading places in importance in psychology. Scientists are not only searching for the causes and ways to prevent depression, but also developing ways to prepare a person for a sharp change in the status of his personal life.
Depending on the circumstances that cause stress, the following types are distinguished:
- A development crisis is a difficulty associated with the transition from one completed development cycle to the next.
- A traumatic crisis can occur as a consequence of sudden intense events or as a result of loss of physical health through illness or injury.
- Crisis of loss or separation - manifests itself either after death loved one, or during a forced long separation. This look is very durable and can last long years. Often occurs in children whose parents divorce. When children experience the death of loved ones, the crisis may be aggravated by thoughts about their own mortality.
The duration and intensity of each crisis state depend on the individual strong-willed qualities person and methods of his rehabilitation.
Age crises
The peculiarity of age-related disorders is that they have a short period and ensure normal progress
Each stage is associated with a change in the main activity of the subject.
- The neonatal crisis is associated with the child’s adaptation to life outside the mother’s body.
- justified by the emergence of new needs in the baby and an increase in his capabilities.
- The 3-year-old crisis arises from a child’s attempt to create a new type of relationship with adults and to highlight his own “I.”
- caused by the emergence of a new type of activity - study, and the position of the student.
- The puberty crisis is based on the process of puberty.
- The crisis of 17 years, or youthful identity crisis, arises out of the need independent decisions in connection with entering adulthood.
- The crisis of 30 years appears in people who feel the unfulfillment of their life plans.
- A crisis of 40 years is possible if problems that arose during the previous turning point are not resolved.
- The retirement crisis arises due to a person’s ability to work.
Human reaction to crisis
Difficulties in any of the periods lead to which can cause 3 types of reactions:
- The emergence of emotions such as indifference, melancholy or indifference, which may indicate the onset of a depressive state.
- The emergence of destructive feelings such as aggression, anger and pickiness.
- It is also possible to withdraw into oneself with the manifestation of feelings of uselessness, hopelessness, and emptiness.
This type of reaction is called loneliness.
Youth period of development
Under the influence of new social and biological factors, young men determine their place in society, choose future profession. But not only their views change, those around them also rethink their attitude towards social groups. This is also due to the significant change appearance and the maturation of adolescents.
Only Erikson's identity crisis can provide education whole personality and create a framework for choosing promising careers in the future. If the appropriate conditions are not created for the passage of this period, the effect of rejection may occur. It manifests itself in hostility even towards one’s close social environment. At the same time, an identity crisis will cause anxiety, devastation and isolation from the real world among young people.
National identity
In every social group throughout last century The crisis of national identity is becoming more and more apparent. An ethnos differentiates itself by national character, language, values and norms of the people. This crisis may manifest itself as individual, and the entire population of the country.
Among the main manifestations of the crisis of national identity are the following:
- The historical past is not valued. The extreme form of this manifestation is mankurtism - the denial of national symbols, faith and ideals.
- Disappointment in state values.
- Thirst for breaking traditions.
- Distrust of government power.
All of the above is caused by a number of reasons, such as globalization different areas life, the development of transport and technology and the increase in migration flows.
As a result, an identity crisis leads to people abandoning their ethnic roots, and also creates conditions for the fragmentation of the nation into many identities (supranational, transnational, subnational)
The influence of family on the formation of identity
The main guarantee of the formation of a young man’s identity is the emergence of his independent position. Family plays an important role in this.
Excessive guardianship, protection or care, reluctance to give children freedom only aggravates their identity crisis, resulting in psychological dependence. As a result of its appearance, young people:
- constantly require attention in the form of approval or gratitude; in the absence of praise, they focus on negative attention, attracting it through quarrels or oppositional behavior;
- search for confirmation of the correctness of their actions;
- seek physical contact in the form of touching and holding.
When addiction develops, children remain emotionally dependent on their parents and have a passive life position. It will be difficult for them to build their own family relationships in the future.
Support young man Parents should be separated from the family and the child takes full responsibility for his life.
The problem of reforming modern societies contains two aspects. The first is reforming societies as organizational systems. In this case, we should talk about the principles of transformation common to the entire specific diversity of cultures - about the strategy of reform. The second is the reform of a unique society, the socio-cultural fabric, and then we should talk about individual and special tactics and tasks of transformation.
As an “organizational system,” Russian society can be classified as a general type of bureaucratic system with a slow type of evolution, which is characterized by the so-called “bureaucratic rhythm” of development.
The fundamentals of the strategy for reforming such established societies with a fairly high degree of economic and socio-cultural development are presented in the program of “strategic change” of bureaucratic systems by M. Crozier. The theory of identifying rigid “blockade nodes” and “sensitive points” of the system in which innovation is possible; provoking “constructive crises” at the right time and in the right place in order to create a development process in the country - these actions are applicable to all organizational ensembles, incl. and to Russian society.
However, the problem of change strategy, being an organizational problem, remains a pure theory without knowledge of the specific cultural and historical context in which, in fact, it is necessary to identify the “nodal” points of the system and make “main and secondary” bets in the social game. Russia is in a completely unique position in this regard. Its main socio-cultural problem lies in its absolutely unsatisfactory knowledge of itself, in the current absence of socio-cultural self-identification and national self-identification. Moreover, the specificity, painfulness of development and many of the troubles of our country stem from the fact that such a solid and strong self-awareness did not exist before, including before 1917, which is now considered a turning point.
After the revolution, understanding of the essence of Russian national character and spirit only began, and then among the Russian intellectual emigration. Today, when we are once again experiencing another “identity crisis,” and an acute one at that, the need to develop a holistic and lasting self-understanding simply becomes a task of the utmost importance. Only by understanding “who we are, what we are and where we are going,” will we be able to correctly determine the main “nodes” of reforming our social system, the main spheres of influence, our strengths and weaknesses, rigid structures that are resistant to influence and those “supporting” ones, “ “anchor” points where true forward movement is possible.
But first, a few words should be said about the concept of “identity crisis,” because this is a phenomenon that is not new in social reality. This condition has been experienced by many peoples, and therefore there are moments “common” for all countries, and theoretical knowledge of them makes it easier to understand, experience and overcome such a crisis in Russia.
“Identity crisis” is a concept that implies the loss of previously existing socio-psychological and moral guidelines, the loss of psychological balance both by an individual and large national communities.
There are problems of identifying an individual with family, social, ethnic groups, religious, political and national communities. Without in any way detracting from the importance of the former, it should be emphasized that in times of crisis, the study of the formation and development of political and especially national identities is of particular interest.
In its most general form, national identity is formed on the basis of national character, political culture, models of socialization, upbringing and education adopted in a given society. All these factors have both permanent components and a part that is subject to temporary changes. These characteristics are cemented into a single whole by the state program for the development of society, which takes the form of a public ideology or social worldview that expresses the goals and means of movement of a given society.
The theoretical foundations for developing the problem of identity were laid by the Danish-born Erik Erikson, who introduced the term “identity crisis” into political science. In his concept, “identity crisis” is a condition that is primarily socially conditioned, and it is closely associated with upheavals in the life of society at the turns of history, such as revolutions, wars, etc. events.
In the concept of “identity”, Erikson distinguishes two interrelated aspects - “personal identity” (the individual’s desire to preserve psychological self-identity) and “communal identity” (the inclusion of individual existence in a certain human community and sharing with it the social values dominant in it at a certain stage social history) (171).
Through reflection and observation, through the processes of comparing oneself with others and others with oneself on the basis of generally valid values, the process of establishing the identity of personal and communal identities occurs, which ends with the formation of a psychosocial or psychohistorical identity as a sign of a person’s full existence (172). This means that in a normal state, an individual experiences a sense of organic belonging to his historical era and the type of interpersonal interaction characteristic of this era, harmony with its inherent ideas and actions, with the dominant this era socio-psychological image of a person. In a word, there is an acceptance of social existence as “one’s own” (173).
At turning points in history, when one world order is replaced by another with new universally significant values and social attitudes, such harmony collapses and then not only individuals, but also entire communities find themselves in a state of crisis. When the previous system of organizing social experience turns out to be shattered and values outdated, the social community enters a transitional era - an “identity vacuum” arises, which is formed from the moment when most of the community experiences an unconscious feeling of “compression” of the familiar “image of the world” and more and more clearly there becomes a vague premonition of impending changes in mentalities and social ideas (174). All these feelings are familiar to us; they are exactly what we experienced quite recently.
Overcoming the crisis is associated with the emergence in society of creative historical figures who, thanks to heightened sensitivity and absorption capacity, appear as spokesmen for problems common to all. In such times, society itself needs a political leader who, transforming his personal heightened experiences into ideas that are in tune with the mentality of the era, includes its components into a new ideological paradigm. These ideas are clothed either in the prophetic form of new religious or secular teachings, or in political programs and are perceived by people as saving recipes. Erickson devotes special studies to some of these personalities who became leaders of large historical movements towards a new identity - M. Luther, T. Jefferson, M. Gandhi. Such an individual creates elements of consolidation and consensus in public consciousness. But at the same time, he initially has a conceptual vision of the problem, recognizing its complex and complex nature.
This was precisely the leadership of Martin Luther, who began his public activity with a speech in Wittenberg with 95 theses, which rejected the main tenets of Catholicism and formulated the main tenets of Protestantism. This is exactly what the political figure of Mahatma Gandhi was, basically social action which was based on his ethical teaching of non-violence and the tactics of non-violent struggle - satyagraha - which became the program of the national liberation movement in India. Similar was the historical role of the personality of V.I. Lenin, whose political activity was preceded by the conceptual elaboration of the teachings of K. Marx and the pragmatic-political strategy and tactics of action, reflected in the works “What is to be done?”, “State and Revolution” and others.
We find confirmation of this in our recent history, in which the function of unity and innovative action was performed first by M. Gorbachev, and in 1991 by B. Yeltsin, when he received an extremely high percentage of support in the presidential elections. However, in subsequent years, the concept of a transition period was not developed and the ideological vacuum remained.
According to Erikson's concept, a political leader cannot be a random figure. It is the result of an interdependent process of development of history and the personal factor. A look at Russian modernity in terms of psychohistory allows us to understand how strange it would be, for example, to demand from M. Gorbachev the “concept” of the “perestroika” he declared, since he himself and his worldview were a reflection of that period of our evolution when the abandonment of old dogmas was ripe and values, but the prospects and goals of development were not yet clear. It is quite obvious that now there is an urgent need to develop ideological guidelines that are designed and can fill the “ideological vacuum.” New ideological values must be clearly defined and openly stated, since without them it is impossible not only for the nation, but also for each individual to determine their “life perspective.” The fact is that although the “identity crisis” is in some way a natural process in the development of society and the individual, it must be purposefully overcome.
The “identity crisis” is resolved by re-evaluating previous norms and ideas, as well as through role experimentation - assuming future social roles. This stage is aptly called “psychosocial moratorium.” This is exactly the state our society has been in for the last few years.
Delays in the process of ideological determination most directly threaten the security and stability of the living space of the individual and the entire society, because neither the individual nor society can for a long time being in a state of disorientation, they are looking for ways out, which, as the historical past shows, are not always beneficial for individual peoples and the world community.
A particular danger during periods of collective crises is the formation and strengthening of “negative identity” of individuals and entire groups and segments of society. In cases of prolonged crises, individuals may despair of finding opportunities to transform elements of a negative identity into a positive identity. And then this suppressed negative energy finds an outlet in the people’s support of psychopathic leaders, the social basis of whose existence is precisely the negative identity.
The Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset came to similar results, but on a slightly different conceptual basis, in the first half of the 20th century in his book “The Revolt of the Masses,” published in 1930, which, however, was read differently after coming to power Nazis in Germany. Ortega y Gasset describes the state of the masses during a special crisis, transitional period of European development, which was characterized by the rapid invasion of new technology into European history, a general increase in the level of material life and spiritual needs of a huge part of the population of Western countries, the spread of industrialization and urbanization processes and an unprecedentedly high pace the growth of people’s activity, their desire to interfere in public life (175).
The destruction of the previous hierarchy and interaction of social strata throws to the surface of public life huge masses of people, torn out of their social place and cut off from their social status. Individuals find themselves without habitually oriented social goals and strong social attachments and, as a result, can become good material for enterprising politicians. This situation is aggravated by the fact that the masses inherit the state of destruction of the previous system, in which even that which should not have been destroyed has been destroyed, having nothing that could serve as a replacement for the old ones. social mechanisms, at the very least poor, but ensuring order and stability. In such a situation the masses are waiting for the arrival strong leader who will show them what they should strive for and what they should desire.
A professor of political sciences offered a picture of the perception of this stage of the social crisis very close to the above Yale University in the USA, Robert Dahl, who, based on the reasoning of the Spanish philosopher, concluded about the deep mutual dependence of the masses and the leader. “To the question “Who rules?”, he writes, “the answer will be: neither the masses nor the leaders, but both together; leaders perceive the desires of the masses and, in turn, use the power that ensures the loyalty and obedience of these masses in order to weaken or completely eliminate all opposition to their own law” (176).
Thus, it is clear that the development of a unifying national idea, which must necessarily be preceded by deep and complex work to understand the essence of the Russian national spirit and national character, i.e. awareness of Russia's national identity are now of enormous political and vital importance. Without such self-awareness, neither overcoming the “identity crisis” nor the stable and any long-term existence of any nation, state, or country is possible.
A stable political system, such as that of the United States, is stable to the extent that the majority of Americans adhere to and remain committed to what in that country is called the “democratic creed.” The vast majority of Americans believe that their system is the most perfect approximation to the democratic ideal that exists. They believe that the shortcomings that it has are completely correctable within the framework of this system itself, without a radical transformation of its foundation. In addition, ordinary American citizens are mostly confident that officials do not commit major violations of the law and that American government structures generally adhere to their declared democratic principles. The latter is also formed by the educational system and is reinforced in the adult personality when it finds confirmation in the real process of its social actions. Ultimately, for an American to “reject the democratic creed” is to refuse to be an American (177).
To overcome the identity crisis in Russia, it is necessary to develop our own ideology, grown from the depths of the Russian character and consciousness, which can put a limit to the endless social borrowings and experiments that are inadequate to reality, which, in fact, become possible insofar as we still do not have a strong and solid understanding themselves - their own special unique geopolitics, psychology, structure of economic life, politics, i.e. all that could be called Russian legal consciousness, supporting and justifying the new Russian statehood.
The lack of awareness and instability of national organic and sacred traditions, the precariousness of the moral character of the people, the immensity and imitativeness of the political daring of the Russian intellectual and political elite created a very special version of the crisis of collective identity in Russia, which is expressed in the form of the Troubles.
Feature of all Russian Troubles was that they were accompanied by social inactivity and connivance on the part of the ruling echelons and the intelligentsia. The main function of the latter in a well and properly organized society is constant and reality-appropriate work to understand the course of changes in social life. When the intelligentsia refused to perform this function during the Russian Troubles, the process of anarchic “unleashing”, “unbridling the lower classes” gained momentum. The result was that some of the rulers, who felt like temporary workers, took advantage of this state of the masses to carry out property redistribution.
The “untied” individual (remember, by the way, that by 1985 the most fashionable words in the jargon of young people were the characteristics “cool” and “untied”) were given the right to disorder, to autocracy, and the denationalization of Russian legal consciousness took place.
Any Time of Troubles is a fermentation, and the main thing is how it ends - whether the people will be able to ferment and come to their senses (as was the case during the first Time of Troubles of the 17th century) or will it happen that they will be crushed, “saddled” by political adventurers.
It is important to remember that the end of the Troubles does not at all mean the restoration of any previous form of statehood. It is possible and desirable to develop a new creative type of statehood, which would formalize the spirit and consciousness organically inherent in the national character into an adequate state form - national statehood.
As history shows, the “fall” continues until the people’s thirst for “restoring” order, on the one hand, and on the other hand, until a leader or group of leaders appears who have state thinking, i.e. who are able to develop a new unifying idea and begin the creation of a new type of statehood.
The moment of maturation and formation of the state-loyal layer of the intelligentsia, which is the intermediary who is the first to translate the facts of existing political existence into conscious categories, is also important, thereby helping to form a new national identity. Any awareness of the state-creative parameters of this identity is a step towards the formation and strengthening of the people's legal consciousness, and therefore a new statehood.
Last update: 02/05/2015
You've probably heard of an "identity crisis" before, and you probably even have a pretty good idea of what the term means. But how did this expression come about? Why are people going through this crisis? Is it limited to adolescence?
The concept of identity crisis has its origins in the work of a psychologist who believed that identity formation is one of the most important aspects human life.
What is an identity crisis?
Do you doubt the role assigned to you in life? Do you feel like you don't know your real self? If you answered yes to the previous questions, most likely you are experiencing an identity crisis. This phenomenon was named by Erik Erikson, who believed that this is one of the most important conflicts that people face in the process of their development.
According to Erikson, an identity crisis is a time of intense analysis, an examination of oneself with various points vision. Erikson's interest in the issue of identity began in his childhood. Jewish by birth and raised as a Jew, Erickson looked anything but Jewish; Nordic appearance coupled with Jewish origin often made him feel like an outcast everywhere. Much later, while studying the culture of the Yurok and Sioux (indigenous tribes of Northern California and South Dakota), he was able to more accurately formulate his ideas about personal development and identity crisis.
Erikson described identity (1970) as " ...a subjective feeling and at the same time an objectively observable quality of self-identity and integrity of the individual Self, associated with the individual’s faith in the identity and integrity of a particular image of the world and man shared with others».
Identity exploration
According to theory psychosocial development Erikson, an identity crisis occurs during adolescence - it is during this period that a person rushes between a sense of self-identity and confusing roles. Researcher James Marcia and his colleagues expanded on Erickson's concept; they added that the balance between identity and uncertainty lies at the core of identity commitment. James also managed to develop a method to determine the so-called personality status. This method assumes analysis of three various aspects human activity: professional roles, beliefs/values and sex life.
Identity statuses according to J. Marcia
- Achieved identity: a person reviewed various identities and chose one for himself.
- Moratorium- the state of a person who is actively exploring different identities, and has still not made a choice.
- Premature identity. The person attributed himself to a certain identity, skipping the search stage.
- Diffuse identity: a person does not have an identity, and does not try to define it.
Researchers have found that those who have found their identity tend to feel happier and healthier than those who haven't. The status of diffuse identity, as a rule, suggests that a person feels out of place in the world, and, nevertheless, does not strive to find it.
In today's changing world, identity crises are more common than in Erikson's time. These conflicts, of course, are not limited to adolescence. People encounter them throughout their lives, especially during the biggest changes - the search for new job, starting a new relationship, marriage/divorce or planning/birth of a child. By exploring yourself from different perspectives and trying new things in different areas of your life - at work, in your family and in your life. romantic relationships, - you can strengthen your own identity and thereby achieve harmony, which is sometimes so lacking.
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UDC 316.16: 141.7
IDENTITY CRISIS AS A NORM FORMING PERSONALITY
Zhukova Olga Ivanovna, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor of the Department of Philosophy, Kemerovo State University (Kemerovo, Russian Federation). Email: [email protected]
Zhukov Vladimir Dmitrievich, Candidate of Philosophy, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Philosophy, Kemerovo State Medical Academy (Kemerovo, Russian Federation). Email: [email protected]
The article examines the problem of identity as something that positions a person as individual uniqueness and something that allows her to form her own “I”; it is emphasized
that as the world of society becomes more complex, identity acquires a multiple character. The authors view the identity crisis as a conflict between existing stable structures identity of the individual and the appropriate way of fitting it into the surrounding reality. The authors come to the conclusion that an identity crisis is an inevitable and logical stage on the path of personality development and finding oneself as a harmonious whole.
Key words: personality, self, identity, identity crisis.
IDENTITY CRISIS AS A NORM-SETTING FORMATION OF PERSONALITY
Zhukova Olga Ivanovna, Doctor of Philosophic Sciences, Professor of Chair of Philosophy of Kemerovo State University (Kemerovo, Russian Federation). Email: [email protected]
Zhucov Vladimir Dmitrievich, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences, Docent, Chair of Philosophy, Kemerovo State Medical Academy (Kemerovo, Russian Federation). Email: [email protected]
The article deals with the problem of identity that considers personality as an individual uniqueness and allows it to form his own ego. Identity gets multiple nature as the world society becomes more complicated. The authors consider identity crisis as a conflict between the established stable structures of the individual identity and the appropriate manner of inscribing it in the surrounding reality. The authors conclude that the identity crisis is an inevitable and logical stage of personal development and finding himself as a harmonious whole.
Keywords: personality, self, identity, identity crisis.
Today, we can rightfully say that modern society has lost stable social communities that wove a single social fabric, allowing the self to acquire an authentic system of social coordinates. Rotating in a variety of different-order realities, extracting from them certain experience for himself, a person, nevertheless, does not identify himself with any of them. Such an unstable position of an individual, his image, both in his own eyes and in the eyes of others, has become a natural and even common occurrence.
The point is not only that a person has lost certain guarantees of this stability in sociocultural reality. There have always been periods in history that were perceived and described as catastrophic, disintegrating, destructive. But they were not understood or analyzed as an “identity crisis.” Of course, this phenomenon has its own objective reasons, to which theoretical thought draws attention and where attempts to understand this trend are being made in various research programs.
The problem of identity is one of the prevailing ones in modern humanitarian knowledge.
NI. This term has become firmly established in the discursive practices of the intellectual community. Philosophers and psychologists have practically combined the concepts of self-awareness and identity, culturologists consider cultural and subcultural identity, political scientists - multiculturalism and national identity. The concept of “identity” is applied to individuals, cultures, subcultures, ethnic groups, nations. There are quite a lot of typologies and classifications of identity in the literature. They are divided into “individual” and “group”, “positive” and “negative”, “local” and “supralocal”, “fundamental” and “relative”. The most fundamental are ethnic, racial, national and civilizational identities associated with the anthropological, linguistic, cultural and religious differences of individuals. Such breadth and frequency of use of this concept, of course, are not accidental, but express objectively existing processes occurring in sociocultural reality. Despite the fact that in the literature there is a rather diverse understanding of this phenomenon, associated with the interdisciplinary nature of its study
and varies greatly depending on the subject of research, today a certain understanding of identity has emerged that allows us to record its essential characteristics.
The term identity (from the Latin root idem - the same) denotes first of all (which is usually recorded in dictionaries) the structure of things that remain the same, preserving their essence during all transformations. Here it is necessary to take into account that we are not interested in wide range vision of this phenomenon, where we are talking about establishing the identity of one-to-one correspondence in relation to different objects, and the application of this correspondence in relation to the individual. Hence, in the context of the study, we will consider the problem of identity as something that positions a person as individual uniqueness and something that allows him to remain himself.
A person's identity does not mean his identity with others. Here, first of all, we are talking about identity, the identity of the individual in relation to himself, and this is its simple designation. But it is obvious that this simplicity is very deceptive, since “personality’s identity with itself” is one of the most complex and painful problems of its development, where the very parameters and coordinates of this identity are not given as immutable and unambiguous. This identity is always sought and adjusted through the prism of the experience of her growing up and becoming a mature, holistic self, where her spiritual abilities play an important role, one of which is the ability to constant openness in comprehending new things.
This identity can be associated with the antinomy of identity, where it is possible to determine the point of contact between two contradictory ideas of identity. Here, on the one hand, as P. Ricoeur shows, identity appears as identity (Latin idem), on the other hand, it manifests itself as selfhood (Latin ipse). In the first case (idem) we are talking about sameness, self-identity, which is reflected in the genetic, biological basis individual, embodied in his character. In the second case (ipse) we are talking about the self and its change, change,
happening to that which does not change. In this regard, we can say that personality is a unity of stability and variability. Even the very fixation of this difference between these two versions of identity is manifested in terms that are both descriptive and symbolic: character and reticence. By character here we mean “a set of distinctive features that make it possible to re-identify a human individual as self-identical. Thanks to descriptive features, character absorbs quantitative and qualitative identity, continuous constancy, constancy over time. This is how it symbolizes the identity of a person in an emblematic way.”
The fact is that by character, defined as a combination of long-term predispositions, you can recognize a person. Combined with the concept of predisposition is the concept of habit, both existing and acquired. Each habit forms a certain personality trait, a character trait by which it is recognized. Thus, character becomes the totality of these distinctive signs. Also, the concept of predisposition is associated with acquired identifications, with the help of which something new is introduced into the composition of the identical. By and large, a person’s identity is established by such identifications as values, norms, ideals, heroes. In them, a person recognizes himself and uses them to determine the priorities of his existence. Thanks to acquired habits and identifications, that is, predispositions, a character develops both qualitative and quantitative identity, an unceasing constancy of change, constancy over time, which determine its identity. In character, idem and ipse tend to prevent their distinction, so it is quite logical to distinguish between the identity of the self and the identity of the identical to turn to a different model of constancy in time than character, the model of a reserved word.
It is fidelity to a kept word that is demonstrative expression identity of the opposite character model. A reserved word means that the personality is preserved. Keeping his word, his promise, a person is symbolic
poses a certain challenge to time, thereby denying change. No matter how his preferences, desires, attachments, inclinations change, he preserves himself. A restrained word gives him such stability.
What is fundamentally important here is that a person is a person if he is included in the ethical plane of his existence. The ethical parameter (especially manifested in such a term as “responsibility”) means that a person exists so that another can count on her, and counting means holding an answer, a word for one’s actions to another.
So, the concept of “personal identity” means a consistent, personally accepted image of the self in the entire spectrum of the most diverse relationships with the surrounding reality, where the personality supports and reveals itself through the dialectic of its independence and numerous dependencies. Personal identity is, first of all, variability with constant stability. Identity is not some unchangeable property inherent initially, but something that is formed, consolidated or, conversely, transformed, transformed in the process of relationships with the surrounding reality.
The problem of identity acquired its relevance with the advent of modern era. Before this, in society (which can be described as traditional or pre-industrial), the identity of an individual was determined by belonging to a certain social stratum, which could not be changed at his will. Therefore, the problem of self-identity could not in principle arise as fundamental in this social reality.
IN traditional society identity appeared highly profiled, that is, fully representing the objective reality in which it was located. In fact, every person was who he was taken to be. P. Berger and N. Luckman write: “In such a society, identities are easily recognizable, both objectively and subjectively. Everyone knows about everyone who the other and he himself are. A knight is a knight and a peasant is a peasant,
both for others and for oneself. So there is no problem of identity here. The question "Who am I?" - is unlikely to arise in consciousness, since the socially predetermined answer is massively real subjectively and is constantly confirmed by all socially significant interactions. This in no way means that the individual is happy with such an identity. Being a peasant is hardly very pleasant; it involves all sorts of subjective real and pressing problems, not at all joyful. But these problems do not include the problem of identity. You can be a beggar or even a rebellious peasant. But he was just a peasant. Personalities formed in such conditions are unlikely to understand themselves in terms of “hidden depths.” The “superficial” and underlying Self is differentiated only in terms of degrees of subjective reality, which at any given moment is represented in consciousness, but not in terms of permanent differentiation of the “layers” of the Self.” So, in a traditional society, people’s consciousness perceived the world as strictly ordered, hierarchical. In this world, everything had its place, everything was interconnected, harmonized. Each person was a performer of a certain social function which was performed before him, and will be performed by others after him.
IN modern societies These relationships change fundamentally: interpersonal relationships gain independence from kinship ties, from clan traditional definitions. A personality arises that tries to perceive itself as the integrity of its individual life. For her, the main problem becomes the problem of self-determination, self-identity. This self-identity conceptualizes itself in terms of autobiography. In this regard, we can say that autobiography is a kind of structuring core of self-identity. Its presence implies the ability of an individual to build a holistic, planned logic of his life project. Such a project cannot be successfully implemented if she does not consider as a natural possibility the choice of several life path options. Recognition of this variability means that the individual must consciously make a choice of his life program, “choosing” which she ultimately
Ultimately, it forms itself, its identity with a certain group, way of life, value imperatives.
As the world of society becomes more complex, societies enter the stage post-industrial development- (and here it does not matter how this society will be designated: “post-industrial”, “information”, “risk society”, “postmodern society”, etc.) identity begins to acquire a plural character. All this leads to a difficult problem that she faces. The individual begins to feel like a collection of very different roles that he has to perform and in which only the most minimal part of his integrity is present. Moreover, he has to constantly control the interaction between these roles, not allowing them to interfere with each other’s performance, since each of them has its own context and may be completely inappropriate and unacceptable in the other. Thus, he does not feel fully authentic anywhere; he does not have an unambiguous image of himself that would appear to him as natural and obvious. The presence of multiple identities leads a person to a certain confusion, which is referred to as an identity crisis.
If we proceed from the socio-ontological foundations of the identity crisis, then they consist in the erosion of the familiar, stable characteristics inherent in the classical society of modernity. social entities, fluidity social structures post-industrial society. It is no coincidence that postmodernity is designated as “fluid”, “soft”, “velvet”, in which stable social classes, layers (united by a commonality of social interests) give way to random associations possible under certain conditions, held together only by the convention of a social symbol.
The emergence of the terms “neo-nomadism”, “nomadic identity”, comparing life modern man with the way of life of nomads, precisely reflect the erosion of stable social structures. When A. Toffler at one time spoke about nomadism, he meant by it the self-perception of people forced to migrate, change their place of residence, work and the conditions accompanying this
the loss and depression they experienced. Today, neo-nomadism rather expresses not a difficult life situation, but, on the contrary, its normality. It reflects the usual image of many people, perceived by them as completely natural. Nomadization is characterized as a position of a person in which he is unable, at least in general outline, determine your future. And in this regard, his life, like the life of a nomad, is not connected with long-term programs and conscious goals. All this leads to the fact that, on the one hand, the individual gets used to relying only on himself and proceeding from his self-sufficiency and self-realization (hence the growth of individualization), on the other hand, he has an increasing feeling of internal inconsistency, fragmentation of his own “I”, loss of self-identity .
Actually, the concepts of “identity” and “identity crisis” have firmly entered the philosophical, psychological, and sociological dictionary since the mid-twentieth century and acquired an interdisciplinary character after the publication of E. Erikson’s works. It should be noted that the ego psychologist himself did not consider himself a pioneer and named among the main predecessors of this position James, S. Freud, A. Freud, etc. Of course, here it is necessary to take into account that although before Erikson these terms were not used specifically in In this conceptual designation, their absence does not mean that the corresponding issues were not discussed in theoretical concepts. So, by and large, James speaks specifically about identity (using mainly the term “character”), meaning by it the subjective feeling of a person’s conformity with himself. In Z. Freud, identity is understood as the internal, private world of a person, in the formation of which biological and social processes play a major role. Basically, S. Freud paid great attention identification phenomenon. Identification is a group-forming factor that allows a person to build his self, taking into account many patterns and styles of behavior of others and identifying himself in to a greater extent unconsciously with some of them. The identification process performs important functions: adaptive (protective) and socializing. In this case, the most important is the biological
psychological. It is the preservation of this function that turns out to be the most significant and decisive for a person.
There is a certain drawback in the position of Freudianism: the lack of due attention to the factors of the surrounding reality, the social world, which have a serious impact on inner world personality. In contrast to classical psychoanalysis, which proceeds from the opposition of man and society, here, following Erikson, one should emphasize the presence of the adaptive nature of human behavior, where the traits present as identity are collected and cumulated. Hence, identity is understood as a state of permanent self-identity, self-esteem, based on the acceptance of one’s holistic image in unity with multidimensional social connections. Thus, stability, consistency of identification occurs when a person reaches harmonious relationship between ideas about oneself and others' ideas about her. This process is in constant development and change, constant differentiation, filling with more complex content as others that are significant for the individual expand. In any case, a person always strives to gain his own integrity, which, nevertheless, can be violated as a result of an “identity crisis.”
The term “identity crisis” was first used during World War II in the treatment of veterans. Psychologists who worked with them discovered that many of them, having gone through extreme difficult conditions war, lost the identity of their self and the sense of continuity, interconnectedness of time. Later, similar violations were recorded in young people torn apart by internal deep-seated contradictions. But the reaction to such a crisis in young people, manifested in states of either aggression or depression, is temporary and does not entail irreversible, destructive processes in the development of the self. All this made it possible to separate the pathological “identity crisis” from the age crisis as an integral attribute of the life of any person. Hence, the attitude towards understanding the very term “crisis” has changed. He stopped associating
to deal with inevitable catastrophe, destructiveness, but began to be understood as an inevitable turning point, a critical moment, after which development will turn in one direction or another - towards growth or degradation itself.
An identity crisis is a conflict between the established stable structures of a person’s identity and the appropriate way of fitting it into the surrounding reality. A crisis can manifest itself in such conditions as closeness, unclear time perspectives, choice of a negative identity, overlapping and confusion of roles. In this context, negative identity appears to be especially important for understanding the processes occurring with an individual, which is dictated by the need to find one’s niche and protect oneself from excessive high requirements, presented by updated higher authorities. Such a choice of negative identity represents an attempt to master the situation in order to reconcile various elements identities that mutually suppress each other. Negative identity comes from those identifications and roles that, at critical stages of development, are presented and perceived as the most undesirable or dangerous, but at the same time the most real.
A crisis experienced by an individual, as a rule, leads to frustration, depression, aggressiveness, and numerous internal conflicts, but, nevertheless, it should be considered as an inevitable and logical stage on the path of personal development towards the formation and acquisition of oneself as a holistic identity. Ultimately, what is important here is that the crisis does not lead to the replacement of self-respect with self-hatred. It is in this context that the identity crisis is considered by V. Hösle, whose ideas are close to us in understanding the problems that an individual faces.
Hösle views an identity crisis as a rejection of the self on the part of the “I.” Here it is immediately necessary to clarify what the thinker understands by self and “I”. In his concept, these are not coinciding concepts, despite the relativity of the differences between the self and the “I”. “I” is the observing principle, the self is the observed (in in this case we see the following of one of the traditional positions of philosophy, considering
defining the self as a stable, “nuclear” center of a person). A person’s “I” observes his self, distances himself from it, but the “I” can observe its own observation, and in this case, what was “I” becomes the self. Hence the "I" can also be identified with the self, that which was at first the self becomes the "I". In any case, the problem of identity is a problem of identification, identification of "I" and self.
An identity crisis, in which the “I” denies its selfhood, cannot be completely obvious, open, obvious. A person who does not love, who despises his self, seeks different ways deception, escape from oneself. This is due to the very serious, painful suffering that he has to go through, and which can only be overcome through continued effort. Here we can name different reasons for the manifestation of an identity crisis (from psychosomatic to social). So, for example, one of them may be a reason rooted in the physical metamorphoses of the body and the reluctance to put up with these changes; the other can be caused by loss of memory, since to a large extent the personality is formed by the past, and some moments of the past “I” want to forget, that is, to forget my self. The latter leads to an identity crisis. Also, the source of the crisis may be the refusal to recognize the temporariness, the fleetingness of one’s self, which may well result in panic fear of death. Incorrect, distorted images of one’s own self (excessive exaggeration of one’s merits or, conversely, underestimation, belittlement of oneself) lead to an identity crisis. But the most serious and hopeless crisis of identity is mainly caused by the conviction that there are no moral standards. The hopelessness of this crisis is that there is practically no way out of it, since the very concept of “crisis” implies normative connotations that a person rejects. In this case, rejection, rejection of the difference between right and wrong, error and truth removes the very formulation of the question of the crisis, which gives rise to its hopelessness. The most common causes of an identity crisis include the disproportion between authentic and phenomenal (social) selves.
bridge. And in this regard, what is especially striking is how quickly a person, practically without any resistance, accepts inflated or, on the contrary, condemning assessments of others about himself, without any convincing moral premises. Also, a crisis makes itself felt when there is a clash with the most powerful, dominant, strong personality, under the pressure of which one has to be, or interaction with a talented, extraordinary person, as a result of which the assessment of one’s own individuality comes to a sharp aberration, the emergence of a feeling of one’s worthlessness and uselessness in general. Identity is “shaken” when one has to experience the disappointing behavior of loved ones, especially the betrayal of an infinitely dear and close person, as a result of which doubt arises regarding the adequate ability to objectively perceive and evaluate others.
The importance for our study of Hösli’s concept lies in the fact that the thinker emphasizes the following (and, as we see it, fair) idea: despite the very serious danger that every identity crisis carries with it, nevertheless it cannot be assessed only in negative characteristics. The necessity of the crisis lies in the fact that thanks to it the development of man and social institutions occurs (when it comes to the crisis of collective identity). As a result of the crisis, a partial rejection of one’s previous identity occurs and a new self begins to form, which acquires a more complex content. For this, according to Hesle, it is necessary following conditions intelligent restoration of identity: “First of all, it is extremely important that the “I” recognize that the self it rejects is not wholly negative. The reason why the self despises the self so much—namely, their identity—points in the right direction. The recognition by the “I” of the shortcomings of the self should be seen in a positive light: since this recognition should be considered a positive achievement of the “I” relating to this self, the latter cannot be completely incorrigible and hopelessly bad; V otherwise"I" could never-
I would feel disgusted with her. The disgust experienced by the “I” is the germ of a new identity and it is precisely because of its understanding that this disgust cannot be completely justified, even if it were reasonable, because, being reasonable, it represents something positive.”
The key to the philosophical path to finding an adequate way out of the identity crisis is the rationality of identity. That is why the rejection of one’s own selfhood for the “I” cannot be of a total nature, since this simply contradicts the principle of rationality. Reasonableness in this context acts as a normative principle of human identity. This is especially manifested in the denial of selfhood, in the fact that a reasonable, consistent relationship of “I” to selfhood requires recognition of what is being denied positive value because of its identity with the negated. Reasonability is manifested in the fact that in building a new identity a person should, as far as possible, avoid assessing his past identities as absolutely false and negative. The mistake of such an individual’s behavior lies in his excessive dependence on negative experience, which holds him back, dominates him and does not allow him to adequately, impartially assess the path of his development. Here it is fundamentally important for a person to understand the generative principle of the development of his own individuality, on the basis of which a certain meaning is recognized, for
consistency (albeit in a hidden version) of past experience, which allows you to reconcile your past with the present.
So, an identity crisis, despite all the drama of its passage, acts as a norm for the formation of personality. And it should be understood as her desire to realize herself as a single integrity, as the ability to overcome the fragmentation and inconsistency of her images and harmoniously connect them. As noted by O. I. Zhukovsky in the article “The Problem of Personality Crisis in a Postmodern Society,” “an identity crisis allows a person to understand the principle of his own formation. Its essence lies in the ability to recognize the hidden, but nevertheless logical pattern of one’s past, to accept oneself in the system of space-time coordinates of this past, and therefore to come to terms with it, even if it is rejected due to a change value guidelines". Even a heightened awareness of erroneous actions that a person should not have committed does not presuppose their perception as absolute incorrigibility, but as a condition for possible personal progress. In this context, progress would be completely unthinkable if a person already possessed it from the very beginning of his life’s journey. Analysis of the reasons for the depth of oneself, one’s authenticity. And here it is precisely her maturity and self-sufficiency that manifests itself in the ability to understand the meaning of her true existence.
Literature
1. Berger P., Lukman T. Social construction of reality. - M.: Medium, 1995. - 323 p.
2. Zhukova O.I. The problem of personality crisis in a postmodern society // Philosophy of Education. -2008. - No. 1 (22). - pp. 176-183.
3. Riker P. Ya. - himself as another. - M.: Publishing House of Humanities. lit., 2008. - 419 p.
4. Erickson E. Identity: youth and crisis. - M.: Flinta, 2006. - 356 p.
5. Hesle V. Crisis of individual and collective identity // Issues. philosophy. - 1994. - No. 10. -S. 112-123.
1. Berger P., Lukman T. Sotsial"noe konstruirovanie real"nosti. Moscow, Medium Publ., 1995. 323 p. (In Russ.)
2. Zhukova O.I. Problema krizisa lichnosti v usloviyakh obshchestva postmoderna. Filosofiya obrazovaniya, 2008, no 1 (22), pp. 176-183. (In Russ.)
3. Riker P. Ya - sam kak drugoy. Moscow, Human literature Publ., 2008. 419 p. (In Russ.)
4. Erikson E. Identichnost": yunost" i krizis. Moscow, Progress Publ., 2006. 234 p. (In Russ.)
5. Khesle V. Krizis individual "noy i kollektivnoy identichnosti. Voprosy filosofii, 1994, no. 10, pp. 112-123. (In Russ.)
The term "identity crisis" simple definition does not lend itself. In order to explain it, we need to remember the eight stages of ego development described by Erik Erikson and representing a sequence of psychosocial crises. One of these conflicts, which is characteristic of a person at a young age, is the so-called identity versus role diffusion, and it is directly in the process of resolving this conflict that an identity crisis may arise.
Identity crisis and age crisis
Identity formation is a special process during which each of the previous identifications is transformed in connection with changes in the expected future. Identity begins to develop from infancy, and at the moment adolescence often a crisis occurs. It is known that in a democratic society the crisis manifests itself with greater force than in societies where the transition to adult life associated with some obligatory rituals.
Often young men and women strive to resolve the issue of self-determination as soon as possible and thus avoid a crisis. However, this leads to the fact that a person’s potential remains unfulfilled. Others solve this problem in their own way and prolong the crisis for too long a period, remaining in uncertainty. In some cases, a diffuse identity develops into a negative one, as a result of which a person ultimately chooses a role that is condemned by society and contrary to the law. However, these are only isolated cases, and most people, according to Erikson’s theory of identity crisis, choose one of the positive manifestations of their self for development.
Sexual identity crisis
Identity crisis is not only an age-related phenomenon. A crisis may arise, for example, of sexual identity, when a person is at a crossroads and seeks to define himself as one of the groups: heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual. Such a crisis most often occurs at a young age, but in some cases it can also occur in adulthood.
Gender identity crisis
Gender identity is a person’s self-determination of belonging to a social role as male or female. female type. Previously, it was believed that mental gender always coincides with physical gender, but in modern life it's not that simple. For example, when the father is a child care worker and the mother earns money, their gender role does not correspond to the traditional biological role.