8/9/ · Identity and Belonging Essay Prompt: Belonging to a group both strengthens and weakens our sense of self. The shaping of our identity is aided by various influences in our lives, one of them being the groups to which we belong Get a verified writer to help you with Identity and Sense of Belonging. Hire verified writer. $ for a 2-page paper. There is often a tension between children’s desire to follow their own dreams and ambitions, and the hopes and expectations of their parents. Sometimes a compromise must be blogger.comted Reading Time: 9 mins 19/3/ · Identity is the idea of "self" that is developed along the path of a living thing. Animals have identities too. That's how they recognise and interact with one another. This identity is so strongly attached to you that you cannot imagine you are someone else unless you are a trained actor. Belonging is all about your comfort zone
Cultural Identity and Belonging - Free Essay Example | blogger.com
Our parents are at the centre of our upbringing and teach us values, attitudes and beliefs that help to define us from our conception and birth. In order to preserve their cultural identity, some parents tend to preserve their traditions and language by entrusting nuances of their national heritage onto their children.
Sometimes a compromise must be made. Our actions and decisions are restricted by the expectations that our parents have of us, which then manifests itself into a vast change in our identity as we may not be following our instincts. We construct a sense of ourselves through social interaction in our family from an early age. They set the examples for us to follow and we subconsciously adapt to share similar lifestyles and ideals.
Adherence to pre-existing guidelines that define social groups, and to the expectations of others, can often be the easiest and in some cases the only path to fitting in. Determining who we are and where we belong as adults is influenced by both our past and our present, by what we already know and what we yearn for in our lives.
Finding peers, friends identity and belonging essay partners who respect and accept our presence is a vital part of our establishment of an adult identity.
Our identity gets more complicated with the passage of time. With age comes new frontiers, challenges and opportunities that individuals can grasp with either hesitation or optimism. The movement from an adolescent identity to an adult identity can often be a challenging one, particularly when the experience is fuelled by frustration, mishap and confusion. Being an adolescent or young adult is a time fraught with fear for the future and uncertainty, since the body and the mind experience great change — physical, physiological and social change.
As gregarious and cognisant beings, we loathe ostracism and desire assimilation. Families and intimate relationships with others shape who we are. Families ideally provide love, protection, security and the opportunity for us to find out who we are. The need to belong is an intrinsic motivation in all humans to feel accepted and valued by others through sustained, meaningful connections that validate our role in society, identity and belonging essay. Not all families provide the same kinds of opportunities for personal identity and belonging essay and, even in the most stable and supportive families, pressures to conform may occur.
Identity and belonging essay we do not choose our families, we can choose the close connections we forge with other people.
A desire to belong is also a desire to connect with others. Changing circumstances can precipitate a change in our close and intimate relationships, which in turn reshapes and further develops our identity. It may seem that our everyday lives are filled with mundane routine, however we eventually realise that every relationship and commitment gradually becomes a significant part of who we are and how we see the world.
Groups and communities can provide security, support and acceptance in our lives. By nature, human beings are not solitary creatures. Belonging is an inherent aspect of our human condition that is a universally ubiquitous concept in humanity.
Examples of groups include families, factions, teams, clubs, schools and workplaces. Contributing to the social fabric can have a positive effect on our sense of self — it can enhance our self-esteem as well as our self-worth. Not only do we belong to a family group, but also to racial, religious and cultural groups — even without our knowledge passive. We fulfill the need for belonging satisfactorily when the group values and respects the contribution our presence makes to the group.
Belonging to a group often carries with it a sense of exclusivity or privilege. It also fosters a identity and belonging essay that we are accepted and loved. Belonging can often be contradictory in nature as people may want to belong to a group or organisation out of fear of being left out or ostracised. To attain a sense of social integration, we attempt to affiliate ourselves with groups that share mutual values and ideologies which affirm our identity and social role.
It is often difficult to belong if we hold different ideas, beliefs and values from the majority of a group or community.
Refusing to conform to the expectations of the majority — especially in schools or workplaces — can take considerable courage and strength of character. Misalignment between individual and group identity will have the same isolating effect as social solicitude, leaving us spiritually disoriented and emotionally desolate. The people and ideas we encounter on a daily basis change the way we see the world and how we see ourselves.
Our identity develops as we grow and change. As teenagers we may be challenged by peer pressure and thus might be easily swayed by others with stronger personalities.
Our beliefs — political, religious and personal — may also be challenged and our identities reshaped as a result, identity and belonging essay. Beliefs add meaning to our lives and connect us to others, by giving a sense of direction and purpose.
If our beliefs are shunned, all semblance of our individuality and character can sometimes be diminished. In some circumstances the only method to find identity and belonging essay true self is to go against the boundaries applied to use by others. Overemphasis on adapting ourselves to satisfy what others think and desire can cause individuals to turn into such parochial beings that we lose sight of reality and who we really are.
Knowing who we are and where we belong is fundamental and it allows us to live as happy and confident individuals able to reject conformity. We are all part of a family, a community and a culture. While we think of ourselves as being individuals, we must also accept that as social creatures we like to feel like we identity and belonging essay and feel safe. The identity and belonging essay we wear, the music we listen to, the football team we belong to, even the school we attend forms the parcel of who we are.
Whilst belonging suggests a desire to be connected to others, it may also result in a dependence on others and a subsequent loss of individuality. Choosing not to belong to the mainstream can be a difficult yet rewarding decision. An individual may define themselves in opposition to identity and belonging essay norms and expectations.
When an individual decides that they do not want to belong to a specific group or community, they demonstrate strength and courage, as well as a dominant, unique identity that is able to cope on its own.
However, there may be some drawbacks. In not belonging and conforming to a group or community, we may be left feeling lost, confused and without purpose in life, regardless of the strength of our individuality.
If we do not fulfill the fundamental necessity for social integration, we may feel isolated from a world that we share nothing with and lose the sense of purpose that defined social roles are able to provide. If this crucial aspect of the human condition is not fulfilled, identity and belonging essay may lose all semblance of our identity and place in society.
The nature of isolation holds no benefits for the individual, as it disallows an individual to view life in a positive manner, and denies them the right of relishing upon the positives in life. To gain a true sense of acceptance sometimes requires compromise. In order to belong to a group, we have to give identity and belonging essay some of our individual freedom. Sometimes we may even have to compromise certain personal beliefs or modify our behaviour in order to fulfill an impulse to belong.
This means belonging will invariably challenge our identity by forcing us to either uphold our own values or conform to the will of the group. Thus, a sense of belonging can benefit or hinder personal development. A sense of belonging can either support or detract from our personal identity.
We must make compromises to suit which direction we would like to take in our lives. While in some instances belonging may challenge identity, identity and belonging must coexist in society. Despite the often horrific consequences that come attached to defying convention, the determination to find who we truly are is sometimes so great that we are willing to risk everything in order to try.
Some sort of balance must be reached such that we feel validated and significant but also understand our true selves. Conforming with prevailing culture has the capacity to strip an individual of their identity or at least parts of it — it is the self that is compromised and dampened. Isolated are those who maintain individuality to the detriment of collectivism.
Assimilated are those who unconditionally accept conformity; entropy awaits those who have no regard for self and others; but salient are those who are able to maintain a discernible element of individuality whilst concurrently achieving societal acceptance. This is the distinction between acceptance and the exertion of individual identity through personality, beliefs, identity and belonging essay, gestures etc.
A sense of belonging can strengthen our identity by assigning us defined social roles. We are more likely to uphold our own values and personal beliefs if we are under some form of obligation to do so. Roles can be both explicit teacher and implicit bully. Where we sit in the social hierarchy can affect how we see and how we identity and belonging essay about ourselves. In all of the social groups that we as individuals belong to, we have a status to abide by and a role to fulfill.
Status is our relative social position within a group or community, whilst a role is the part our society expects us to play in such a status. For example, identity and belonging essay, a man may have the status of father in his family, and is thus expected to nurture, educate, guide and protect his children.
Mothers usually have complementary roles. One can also have multiple roles and statuses — such as an uncle, grandfather and so on. Individuals gain more from belonging to a group than from living in isolation.
Members of a group can also teach each other, sharing the wisdom they have gained from their life experiences. Belonging can facilitate or perhaps stifle personal growth. Types of identity: Career: lawyer, nurse, politician, identity and belonging essay.
Family: father, mother, older sister, cousin. Skills: athletic, intelligent, leader. Cultural: history, tradition, religion, ethics. Social: peer group, identity and belonging essay, clique, club, gang.
Types of belonging: Identity and belonging essay family, friends, partner, teacher. Social: groups, classes, clubs, organisations.
Environment: Australia, identity and belonging essay, metropolitan, farm. Identity and Sense of Belonging. Accessed May 19, Identity and Sense of Belonging Categories: Family Identity Sense, identity and belonging essay. Download paper. Essay, Pages 9 words. Familial and societal values and expectations define who we are. Get a verified writer to help you with Identity and Sense of Belonging. Top Writers.
Identity and Belonging - English Works
Going home means finding out who you are as an Aboriginal: where you come from, who your people are, where your belonging place is, what your identity is.” Typically, Helen (p. Bringing them Home) was removed from her family at the age of four and placed in an institution. She had no family to support her and no idea of where she came blogger.comted Reading Time: 8 mins Identity and Belonging Essay. Words3 Pages. Our perception of our identity is constantly changing, the groups we belong to, the people we talk to and the way we connect with others help to form our identity. There is one thing we all have in common despite our individual identities, is the need to belong. There’s no obligation to belong to only Two identity and belonging context essays based on the texts 'The Mind of a Thief' and 'Summer of the Seveneenth Doll'. Includes quotes and external resources. Written in an expository approach. Both marked by my teacher
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