Personal and Social Identities

I do not think William James or Herbert Blummer would argue with the notion that in order to develop a strong willed personal identity then one must continue to expand upon their social identity. However, this may be a complicated process because an individual does not have complete control over their social identity. One must be fully aware that their social identity runs the risk of changing our evolving into a new identity every time they participate in social interaction with their peers or anyone in the public for that matter.

When thinking about the development of an individual’s social identity I can’t help but think about how our very own Columbia, Missouri factors in. In a few days I will be turning 22 which has caused me to reflect upon my last year as a 21 year old or in other words the first year I was able to socially interact with Columbia’s drinking and bar scene. Don’t worry I don’t play on telling some Friday night story dealing with intoxicated decision making. Instead, I ask my readers to use their imagination and think about how an individual self-censors their own social identity when they decide to go out one night in Columbia to one of these public drinking scenes. If most peoples’ objectives are to have fun and enjoy themselves then how do they manage to use this self-censorship? If they are self-censoring their social identity then does this mean they are too worried about the label others assign to them therefore, are not allowing themselves to release any stress and enjoy themselves? The answers to these depend on the individual I believe. Whichever way someone decides to manage their social identity it will directly affect their own label for themselves, their personal identity. By participating in social interaction within a public scene, just as many college students do in Columbia on various nights down town, an individual is able to produce a complete sense of identity through the social and personal self. Allowing others to assign a label to you correlates with how you will perceive yourself at the end of the interaction. Below are just a few pictures of how some people unfortunately choose to self-censor their social identity around others: