Representations and social belonging : an idiographic approach to community and identity

Abstract

The present chapter provides an idiographic formulation of identity in terms of a process of identification undertaken by individuals in social relations who negotiate community on the basis of interests. Individuals are demonstrated to draw on semiotic structures provided by social representations to negotiate identity. The form this identification takes differs on the basis of the particular point of view that individuals adopt that marks them as identical to some and simultaneously sets them apart from others. We report two studies that demonstrate this identification. The first study is a social representations inquiry into the self-stereotypes of the Maltese. This demonstrates that the Maltese attribute to themselves both more positive and more negative traits relative to European counterparts. The second study demonstrates how these attributes serve as semiotic structures in the construction of identities negotiated by Maltese immigrants to a European country, that functionally position them in community with others. The form this community takes is shown to depend on the openness immigrants demonstrate to identify with certain others. These studies demonstrate two important points. Firstly, they demonstrate how different points of view are implicated in different community relations. Secondly, the idiographic focus undertaken in our inquiry demonstrates that identity and community, rather than being an influence unto each other, are rather mutually constitutive of each other.