Analysing Identity: Cross-Cultural, Societal and Clinical Contexts

413 Pages·2003·1.92 MB·English

by  P. Weinreich

Analysing Identity
Cross-cultural, societal and
clinical contexts
People’s identities are addressed and brought into being by interaction with
others. Identity processes encompass biographical experiences, historical eras
and cultural norms in which the self’s autonomy varies according to the flux of
power relationships with others.
Identity Structure Analysis (ISA) draws upon psychological, sociological and
social anthropological theory to formulate a system of concepts that help explain
the notion of identity. ISA can be applied to the practical investigation of identity
structure and identity development – at individual level and/or group level – in a
number of clinical, societal and cross-cultural settings. The book includes studies
of national and ethnic identification in multi-cultural contexts and gender identity
relating to social context and the urban environment. Clinical applications that
describe identity processes associated with psychological distress are also looked
at. These include anorexia nervosa and vicarious traumatisation of counsellors in
the aftermath of atrocity.
Analysing Identityis unique in its development of this integrative conceptuali-
sation of self and identity, and its operationalisation in practice. This innovative
book will appeal to academics and professionals in developmental, social, cross-
cultural, clinical and educational psychology and psychotherapy. It will also be of
interest to those involved with sociology, political science, gender studies, ethnic
studies and social policy.
Professor Peter Weinreichhas a Personal Chair in the School of Psychology at
the University of Ulster. His integrative intellectual work engendered and facili-
tated the evolution of the Identity Structure Analysis conceptual framework and
its operationalisation through successive prototypes of the Identity Exploration
computer software.
Dr Wendy Saundersonlectures in the School of Policy Studies at the University
of Ulster. Her extensive use of ISA for over a decade has included research into
voluntary action, alcohol addiction, anorexia nervosa, lone motherhood, women
in academia and the identity processes and politics of men and women as
architects, town planners and users of cities.

Analysing Identity
Cross-cultural, societal and
clinical contexts
Edited by Peter Weinreich &
Wendy Saunderson
First published 2003
by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2FA
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
Reprinted 2004
by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2FA
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY10016
Selection and Editorial material © 2003 Peter Weinreich and Wendy
Saunderson
Individual chapters © 2003 the Contributors
Cover design by Sandra Heath
Cover Painting: I and the Village, 1911, Marc Chagall (1887–1986),
Museum of Modern Art, New York, courtesy of Scala Group S.p.A
Copyright © ADAGP, Paris and DACs, London 2002
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Analysing identity : cross-cultural, societal, and clinical contexts / edited by
Peter Weinreich & Wendy Saunderson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-29897-0
1. Identity (Psychology) – Social aspects. I. Weinreich, Peter, 1939–
II. Saunderson, Wendy, 1963–
BF697.5.S65 A53 2002
155.2–dc21
2002068328
ISBN 0-203-98880-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-415-29897-0
To all those, especially my mother Charlotte Weinreich née Kunert, my brother
Helmut Kunert, my daughter Jo, and my partner Mehroo Northover née Aibara,
who have had to contend with the challenges of being migrant or offspring of
migrants.
Peter Weinreich
To my parents, Norman and Lily Hanna, who resisted the Irish diaspora and gave
me my roots; and to Richard Ekins, who has sustained them.
Wendy Saunderson

Contents
List of figures ix
List of tables x
Biographical notes on contributors xiii
Foreword by Rom Harré xvii
Acknowledgements xxiii
PART I
Theory and practice 1
1 Identity structure analysis 7
PETER WEINREICH
2 Identity exploration:Theory into practice 77
PETER WEINREICH
The theoretical and empirical studies 111
PART II
Cross-cultural issues 113
3 Basic primordialism in ethnic and national identity 115
PETER WEINREICH, VIERA BACOVA AND NATHALIE ROUGIER
4 Complex patterns of cultural allegiances:The ethnic identity
of Palestinian Christian Arab adolescents in Israel 171
GABRIEL HORENCZYK AND SALIM MUNAYER
viii Contents
PART III
Societal issues 191
5 Grounding the discursive self:A case study in
ISA and discursive psychology 195
KARYN STAPLETON AND JOHN WILSON
6 Complex identities:The case of academic women 213
MAARET WAGER
7 The city,gender,and identity 235
WENDY SAUNDERSON
8 Adults returning to education:Gender and identity processes 255
HELEN IRVINE
9 Enterprising identities:Gender and family influences 277
ANITA MACNABB
PART IV
Clinical issues 297
10 Identity formulation and reformulation in clinical
assessment and therapy 299
PAUL D.G. HARRIS
11 Anorexia nervosa:Analysing identity for predisposing,
precipitating and perpetuating factors 311
WENDY SAUNDERSON AND MARIA O’KANE
12 An exploration of counselling identity in counsellors
who deal with trauma 339
SELWYN BLACK AND PETER WEINREICH
Coda 361
PETER WEINREICH
Appendix: A bibliography of selected ISA research 367
Author Index 373
Subject Index 381
Figures
2.1 Formal systematic construal and appraisal of entities: 86
an example of a ‘page’of an identity instrument.
2.2 A visual interpretation of the relationship between the 93
construct system and the entity/action system.
2.3 A visual interpretation of the relationships between the
construct system, the system of affective states and the
entry/action system. 94
2.4 Theory-building using the ISA metatheoretical framework. 109
4.1 Hierarchical cluster analysis dendogram – evaluation
of entities. 179
4.2 Hierarchical cluster analysis dendogram – empathetic
identifications. 180
4.3 Hierarchical cluster analysis dendogram – idealistic-
identifications. 180
7.1 Male urban dwellers’identification conflicts in ‘personal’
self and ‘urban-user’self. 243
7.2 Female urban dwellers’identification conflicts in ‘personal’
self and ‘urban-user’self. 243
7.3 Male architects’and town planners’empathetic identification
in ‘personal’self and ‘professional’self. 248
7.4 Female architects’and town planners’empathetic
identification in ‘personal’self and ‘professional’self. 248
10.1 Repeat indices for evaluation of current self and past self. 305
11.1 Annabel’s appraisal by the construct (endorsed pole):
‘has not been sexually abused’. 323
11.2 Annabel’s ego involvement with facets of her self-image. 325
11.3 Annabel’s self-evaluation. 329