Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-g98kq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-27T23:58:25.904Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Identity is probably too complicated to serve as a useful criterion for defining society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 April 2025

Hector Qirko Open the ORCID record for Hector Qirko [Opens in a new window]
Hector Qirko*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology & Anthropology, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, USA qirkoh@cofc.edu https://socanth.cofc.edu/
*
*Corresponding author.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Identity formation and maintenance is a complex process operating at many levels, with identity markers and affiliations often contested, negotiated, rejected, revised, and replaced, both within and between groups, by parties with competing interests. This needs to be considered if identity is to serve as a useful criterion for defining society.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 48 , 2025 , e68
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Anderson, B. (1982). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Verso.Google Scholar
Appadurai, A. (1990). Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy. Theory, Culture & Society, 7(2–3), 295–310. https://doi.org/10.1177/026327690007002017CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coles, R. L. (2002). War and the contest over national identity. The Sociological Review, 50(4), 586–609. https://doi.org/10.1177/003802610205000407CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Fina, A. (2010). The negotiation of identities. In Locher, M. A. & Graham, S. L. (Eds.), Interpersonal pragmatics (pp. 205–224). De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110214338CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eriksen, T. H., & Schober, E. (Eds.) (2016). Identity destabilised: Living in an overheated world. Pluto. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1gk07wfCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, J. (1994). Cultural identity and global process. Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanson, A. (1989). The making of the Maori: Culture invention and its logic. American Anthropologist, 91(4), 890–902. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1989.91.4.02a00050CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manuel, P. L. (1994). Puerto Rican music and cultural identity: Creative appropriation of Cuban sources from Danza to Salsa. Ethnomusicology, 38, 249–280. doi: 10.2307/851740Google Scholar
Menendez-Baceta, G., Aceituno-Mata, L., Reyes-García, V., Tardío, J., Salpeteur, M., & Pardo-de-Santayana, M. (2015). The importance of cultural factors in the distribution of medicinal plant knowledge: A case study in four Basque regions. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 161, 116–127. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2014.12.007CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nagel, J. (1994). Constructing ethnicity: Creating and recreating ethnic identity and culture. Social Problems, 41(1), 152–176. https://doi.org/10.2307/3096847CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qirko, H. (2013). Induced altruism in religious, military, and terrorist organizations. Cross-Cultural Research, 47(2), 131–161. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069397112471804CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qirko, H. (2014). Consumer authentication of popular music in the global postmodern. Popular Music and Society, 37(3), 295–312. doi: 10.1080/03007766.2013.798552CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sökefeld, M. (1999). Debating self, identity, and culture in anthropology. Current Anthropology, 40(4), 417–448. https://doi.org/10.1086/200042Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. (Ed.) (1978). Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations. Academic Press.Google Scholar