Identity theory is one of the most influential social psychological theories dealing with the relationship and connectedness between the self and social action (Burke et al. 2003). In this theory, social behavior is viewed through the reciprocal relations between self and society. In other words, the Identity Theory is based on the view that society affects the self and the self affects the social behavior.
Stets and Burke (2000) illustrate that Identity Theory holds that an individual has many different ‘role identities.’ A wife, for example, is also a mother, a daughter, a teacher and a blood donor. Hence, each of these multiple components of her i.e. each of the different roles that she occupies in the society, is a role identity. Individuals view themselves as occupants of different roles through the so-called self-categorizations (Stets and Burke 2003). That is, through self-categorizations, which depend upon the classifications that each society has, individuals can describe themselves as occupants of certain roles that provide their identity.
According to Identity theory, people have certain norms and expectations, also called identity standard, for the roles provided through the self-categorizations. Thus, they behave in accordance with the norms and expectations for the roles they occupy. When an individual manages to act in accordance with the norms and expectations s/he has for one of the roles s/he occupies, this role will be self- verified.
Self-verification, therefore, occurs when an individual’s behaviors match the identity standard for a specific role identity that s/he occupies. Stryker and Burke (2000) argue that when self-verification occurs, people feel satisfied and do not change the way they behave. Conversely, if self-verification fails to occur, due to a mismatch between behaviors and identity standard, this will lead an individual to have some doubts about his/her self-worth (low self-esteem) and may even engender certain negative emotions such as distress and anger. To reduce such negative emotions, people tend to modify their behaviors to make them consistent with the identity standard for the roles they occupy.
65 | P a g e The fundamental question the Identity Theory attempts to answer is, why an individual in a given situation chooses one particular identity than others? and also why s/he chooses one particular course of action in time s/he has many other options which are all aligned with the norms and expectations s/he has for the roles s/he occupies?
The theory hypothesized that people choose one role identity or one particular action rather others depending on the degree of commitment that people have towards the many role identities they occupy (Stryker and Burke, 2000). To explain, Identity theory hypothesizes that role identities are hierarchically organized within the self and the higher the role identity is positioned in the hierarchy, the more possibility that role identity will be invoked in a given situation. Identity Theory uses the term salience to refer to the degree or level of commitment an individual has to one particular role. That is, within the salience hierarchy, the higher positioned identities are more likely to be invoked and thus, put into behaviors (Stryker, 2000). Therefore, due to varieties in identity salience, people occupying the same role identities may behave differently even within the same context. Based on the argument above, it can be argued that teachers, within the context of the present study, may behave differently if their different identities are organized differently. To explain, if a teacher is more committed to his/her ‘displaced parent’ identity, for instance, then s/he might not behave the same compared to another teacher who is more committed to his/her ‘English language teacher’ identity. In other words, the first teacher might not be concerned with delivering effective teaching. Instead, s/he may mainly be worried about affording a decent and safe life for their family, even if at the expense of his/her faithfulness towards their job. Hence, s/he might call in sick, when s/he is not actually sick, in order to make money from another part-time job.
The second teacher, on the other hand, who is more committed to their ‘English language teacher’ identity, would arguably be more interested in developing their teaching skills. By the same token, s/he would be more concerned with increasing students’ knowledge, develop their critical thinking and so on. Clearly, each of the
66 | P a g e two teachers has different goals due to their degree of their commitment to their ‘English language teacher’ identity.
However, why an English language teacher would be more committed to one identity than other identities? Stryker (1980 [2002]) argues that the level of commitment one person may give to a specific identity depends mainly on ‘the costs the person incurs for not playing out a role based on an identity’. Hence, if dropping out an identity incurs a teacher high costs, then high level of commitment will be attached to that identity, and thus this identity will be mostly provoked and put into action.
Stryker and Serpe (1982; 1994) contend that costs can be calculated through two dimensions, labeled as the quantitative and qualitative aspects. The first dimension, or the quantitative aspect, is the number of ties (persons) related to an identity. That is, the bigger the number of people an individual will be connected to through an identity, the higher the commitment to that identity will be. The second dimension (the qualitative dimension) is the strength of these ties. Hence, the stronger the ties to others, the higher level of commitment to that identity will be.
To relate the above argument to the present study, it can be expected that the displaced teachers would choose an identity, and thus certain kinds of behaviors in relation to that identity, that bring them closer to other community members (students, supervisors, headteacher). This, however, is somehow similar to CHAT. According to CHAT, teachers (as subjects of activity systems) negotiate their goals with other community members (within the existing rules and available resources) to reach a shared goal for all the individuals participating in the same activity system. Logically, different members have different needs, beliefs and thus goals. It is therefore unlikely that teachers could find goals that satisfy the needs of all the members. Teachers, in this case, will most probably try to find the most agreed upon goal between the community members. In this sense, teachers are adhering to the behaviors attached to a certain identity that keep the largest number of ties with others.
67 | P a g e To summarize, among the many identities they have, teachers pick those with the higher level of commitment. To feel satisfied, they try to verify these ‘picked’ identities in their context. However, what is the process that people follow in verifying their different roles or identities? The answer for this question is found mainly in the works of Burke, McCall and Simmons who place ‘meanings’ at the heart of their works on identity. The next two sections will explain the notion of meaning and the process of verifying identities accordingly.