. Identity formation
“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.”
Ralph Ellison
Jenkins (2008, p. 6) defines identity as follows: “identity is the human capacity – rooted in language – to know who is who [...]. This involves knowing who we are, knowing who others are, them knowing who we are, us knowing who they think we are”.
Recent studies show that identities are shaped through avowal and ascription processes (Wei, 2006, Jackson & Hogg, 2010). Avowal is a process by which a person perceives himself based on his own experiences but also the way he projects himself to the outside world. Conversely, ascription is a process by which people perceive, process and attribute identities to an individual (Wei, 2006), a process by which “others’"others" sense of us is communicated to us” (Jackson & Hogg, 2010, p.54). The avowal and ascription processes may be congruent (Martin & Nakayama, 2010), wherein ascription is often regarded as a mirror image of someone’s avowal.
The identity encapsulates the self-image perception and sense of sameness, but isit is also linked to the perception of others. Erikson coined the term “ego identity” describing it as a “conscious feeling of one to recognize the self-sameness and continuity” and the perception of others to establish one’s sameness and continuity (cf. Cotê & Levine, 2002, p. 177). At the core of identity construction the struggle for “establishing a sense of sameness of oneself” is coupled with undergoing changes while redefining the self (Harter, 1990, Rodriguez et al., 2002).
According to Stryker, Hogg, Turner and other identity practitioners (Stryker 1980, Stets & Burke, 2000) the ‘self is reflexive’ and represents a separate category which is embedded in self-categorization process and, in parallel, it is served as an object of classification which contrasts itself. Therefore, a coherent sense of identity is formed through the process of categorization and identification (Stets & Burke, 2000