30206

SoSe 13: Region, nation, Europe: collective identity in the European context

Marta Kozlowska

Comments

The problem of identity is one of the most important issues in the social sciences. The question of how people define themselves and what are the cognitive and emotional paths of their answering the question of who they are, for centuries bothers philosophers and thinkers, and in more recent times also sociologists, psychologists, political scientists and ethnographers. In result, the term itself has become polysemous and can be applied to denote or describe numerous and complex social phenomena, sometimes very distinct from one another. In the fields of sociology and psychology the concept of identity usually refers to the auto-definition of a social actor, both individual and collective. The construction of one's identity can never be done in a social vacuum, therefore the way in which an individual expresses their self is to a large extend predetermined by the social context. Some researchers believe even more in a deterministic character of the social world, claiming that there is no social identity that is not either place-related (Proshansky, 1978) or thing-related (Graumann, 1974). As a part of theoretical introduction to the topic concepts of difference understandings of collective identity and its relation to other identities, discrimination between identity and identification, multidimensionality of the latter two, as well as the overlap and interaction between different aspects of identity will be covered. In the second part of the program the local, national and European identities and identifications will be discussed in more detail. Requirements: Regular participation One oral presentation Seminar paper or 3 essays Exam: Seminar paper (3,000 words) or 3 essays (à 1,000 words) close

14 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Tue, 14:00 - 16:00 14 Class schedule

Tue, 2013-04-09 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Marta Kozlowska