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Becoming Irish: Personal Identity Construction among First‐generation Irish Immigrants
Author(s) -
Field Stefanie J.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.1994.17.4.431
Subject(s) - irish , identity (music) , ethnic group , sociology , social psychology , personal identity , social identity theory , autonomy , immigration , contradiction , social identity approach , identity formation , gender studies , social group , psychology , self concept , epistemology , political science , aesthetics , law , anthropology , philosophy , linguistics
This article elaborates the attempts by Irish immigrants to meet the contradiction between social and self‐definitions initiated by their confrontation with a problematic social identity. Selectively interpreting their situation, the immigrants create and present personal identities reflecting self‐definitions by engaging the identity construction strategies of exclusivity, pragmatic identification, or autonomy. Challenging their social placement generates swings toward affiliations with others who similarly interpret and act on the environment. The construction of personal identities thus provides insight into people's struggles to maintain a positive sense of self in problematic situations and the social worlds and others with whom they identify. Shared outlooks, moreover, relate to the importance attributed to ethnicity as a relevant factor in interactions. In contrast to analyses that treat ethnic identity as an ascribed constant, the view developed here argues that ethnic identity is emergent and involves within‐group variations.