Question

We all have more than one identity and can belong to more than one social group
Discuss the statement by giving suitable examples.

Answer 1

Hint: The society that we live in is a collection of a huge number of social groups. People classify themselves and belong to specific social groups. This membership of certain groups influences people.Social groups thus form social identity of people. Identity, hence, refers to the beliefs, thoughts and practices that one associates with oneself when being part of a social group.

Complete Step by Step answer:
We have understood that social identity is about who we are, what we do, and is majorly influenced by our membership in social groups.Social groups are collections of people who have persistent and stable patterns of interaction, have shared interest as well as a sense of belonging to identify with other members, and have accepted a common structure.
Social groups could either be primary or secondary. Primary groups are smaller in size with more intimate association whereas secondary groups are bigger in size with formal association.
A person in his lifetime can belong to many social groups and hence have many identities. For example:
1.A person could identify as an Indian and as a Punjabi too. These identities can co-exist.
2.One could belong to the middle class but share their religion with people of the upper class.
3.There are different castes within a religion. So some people have certain caste identity but share the religion with people of other caste.
4. It is important to understand that some identities, like caste and religion, are ascriptive identities and are based on birth.

Note: One should understand that any aggregation of people cannot be called a social group. For example people waiting at the bus stop or a queue cannot be called a social group. A social group has certain distinct qualities like common interest and persistent communication which differentiate it from any random gathering of people.