Identity: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #593

by Florian Coulmas

Identity has become one of the most widely used terms today, appearing in many different contexts. Anything and everything has an identity, and identity crises have become almost equally pervasive. Yet "identity" is extremely versatile, meaning different things to different people and in different scientific disciplines. To many its meaning seems self-evident, since its various uses share common features, so often the term is used without a definition of what, exactly, is meant by it. This provokes the core What exactly is identity?

In this Very Short Introduction Florian Coulmas provides a survey of the many faces of the concept of identity, and discusses its significance and varied meanings in the fields of philosophy, sociology, and psychology, as well as politics and law. Tracing our concern with identity to its deep roots in Europe's intellectual history, individualism, and the felt need to draw borderlines, Coulmas identifies the most important features used to mark off individual and collective identities, and demonstrates why they are deemed important. He concludes with a glimpse at the many ways in which literature has engaged with problems of identity throughout history.

ABOUT THE The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Genres: Philosophy, Psychology, Nonfiction, Politics, Sociology, Ebooks

176 pages, Paperback

Published April 28, 2019

Reviews

[Caroline Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Identity is a border - at best arbitrary, at worst illusory - that we draw in order to understand our experiences. Language plays a key role, in defining abstract concepts of sameness and difference.

This book was a reasonable primer to issues around ‘identity’, ranging from philosophy, logic, politics, psychology, language and others. My beef is that the chapter on psychology leans almost exclusively on Freud’s work, which while influential is in the 21st century mostly discredited. This led me to question the integrity of other chapters I know less about.

Still, it gave a broad overview of the areas identity touches, which acts as a springboard to more detailed reading and exploration.

[Daniel Cunningham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up thinking it would be more a "very short introduction" to "identity" in the political/sociological/etc. sense. It does cover that but also touches on psychology, literature, philosophy, post-modern/consumer culture, and more, and all in something like 150-ish pages. Arguably, too much territory too quickly, too "very short" for me.

This reflects my narrow interest, but I feel like this could be split into two books; one focusing on the "identity" in "identity poltics" (and, by extension, nationalism, racism, populism, etc. and to an extent modern/post-modern/consumer culture) and another one focusing on the "identity" of psychology and philosophy (and, by extension, literature, and again to an extent modern/post-modern/consumer culture.)

Overall a worthwhile breakneck introduction to the facets of "identity", but only just barely enough of any one facet to whet the appetite.

[Liyana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was not an enjoyable experience. A struggle to get through. I don't know if it was because I lacked the knowledge that would help me understand what is essentially a body of summaries of this subject matter or if it was just poorly summarised (saying this as a comparison to the first short introduction book I read on biology- which I'm familiar with). I felt like so much was said, but nothing much was said at all.

I expected it to focus more on how we conceptualise our sense of self but there it was much broader and it included parts I didn't care for like how it affects security, how we are identified by the governing body (citizenship, fingerprints, voice).

I did like one thought about personality integration "Overlapping, supplementing, and conflicting identities were always a reality in their lives" - I like knowing that it is normal to not feel like your different selves are always compatible

[Charlie Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much too broad. There was significantly more focus on legal, literary, linguistic, sexual and social identity than philosophical, which was my area of interest. I don't imagine many people reading this will find the cursory detail of much use. Kind of like a collection of the most obvious things in each category that you already know.

[WKanert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Identity is everywhere today, influencing people, society and politics. This little booklet manages to describe the different notions and usages of identity, ranging from individual psychology to societal issues, politics, and law. It does quite a good job, considering the widely different aspects of the term. Although it arguably does not discuss every aspect in the depth different readers may wish for, it nevertheless is a valuable account to help people in understanding and avoiding misunderstandings and misrepresentations.

[Lachlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Packs an enormous amount of research into this small format. The first chapter, on identity in philosophy, is "challenging", but as the book progresses, the author connects meaningfully with the issues of our times: cultural, sexual, social, linguistic identity, and more. A tour de force.

[Elise Barker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve liked these very short introductions on various topics. The content in this book is helpful but the writing style sometimes lacked clarity, to the point I decided not to have my students read it.

[Nayab Murad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better at the start. Ending chapters are more about forensics of identity than identity itself.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first few chapters are good, but then it devolves into a rambling blog post.

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book explores the slippery metaphysical concept of identity -- not only as it’s presented in philosophy, but also in psychology, law, politics, anthropology, and literature. It begins with individual identity and expands outward to encompass gender, political, socio-economic, and linguistic identities. The aforementioned slipperiness of identity stems from the fact that we all have an intuitive grasp of identity that could be leading us astray. It tends to make us believe that aspects of identity are inherent features of the universe, when – in fact – they may be arbitrary designations – in which case, a given criterion or classification of identity may be chopped up in different ways than a given culture happened to glom onto.

I learned a great deal from this Introduction, and feel it was well organized and presented. How we see various dimensions of group identity (as well as how we weight them) has a lot to do with our social tensions and strife, and the issues around identity are worth dissecting -- despite the fact that it might seem like a dry academic topic at first blush.

If you’re interested in learning more about identity, selfhood, and how various group identities feature in an individual’s overall identity, this book is worth investigating.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent primer on the concept of identity, though I was really hoping for a bit more depth and more resources to chase from this book.

[Frederic De meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I needed a book to broaden my perspective on this domain and to open new paths of investigation. It provided me just that, in a clear and accessible way. Just what I needed

[Bill Tyne · Rating 3 out of 5]

While entertaining and generally well written this book is not without it's flaws. Other reviews have highlighted the problem with the broader scope of the book leading to brevity in some areas; I tend to agree but think they may have exaggerated the problem (the clue to the remit of this series of books is in the title "A very short introduction".
I have some minor issue with the perpetual use of needless and frequently unexplained jargon in some chapters - this is the dominant style in the social sciences / humanities arena and is familiar to anyone who has suffered through the rigmorole of a postmodernist text. Coulmas is not a major offender in the field of jargon, however he does fall hook line and sinker for the Freudian and Post-Freudian analytic of personal identity. This is a shame as there has been so much valid and emperically back research into identity and related fields such as memory and conciousness, that has been left out in place of very weak, and dubious at best, theories (much of Freud is regarded as debunked nonsense by the scientific community and many would not grant it the status of theory - anything building on his ideas is already on a shakey foundation). This whole chapter was beyond suspect and more a work of wishful fiction that scholarship.
Another slip was in the chapter on identity in literature - this is a minor issue but when Coulmas discussed Goethe's Faust his synopsis was more applicable to Marlowes version - he seemed unaware of the redemption of Faust at the end of Part II, instead implying that Fausts failure to win out in his dealing with the devil leads to his damnation - this is far more true for Marlowes Faust than Goethe's.
Identity is currently a fashionable hot potatoe and, like it or not, it is likely to remain so for a few years yet. Given its prominance and the marmite reactions it provokes then any sensible exploration of the subject is welcome. Despite the foregoing this slim volume does have some interesting and sensible contributions to offer and it generally avoids the pitfalls of being overtly partisan - no answers just a presentation of the issues with the problems arising. The emphasis on change and the artificially constucted nature of various forms of identity is strongly emphasised which is a welcome corrective to those who wish to consign people to rigid siloes.

[Britt-Marie]

I read the whole book, but really chapter 8 on "Selfhood and Personality: the psychology of identity" was the most relevant to my inquiry. I didn't learn much, but I did get the tip that I might need to read Erving Goffman's The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.