Identity Construction

To build one’s identity is a lifetime process.

It is a lifetime process, in the same way that we engage in social interaction in our whole life. As we grow and learn to interact with others and adapt to our environment, we also, little by little, build our own versions of ourselves. Our identity is not limited to our biological determininism, rather, it is also constructed by the society that we live in. How? Through communication.

According to the Communication Theory of Identity (CTI) by Michael Hecht et. al, humans are inherently social beings whose lives revolve around communication, relationships, and communities and who operate from multiple and shifting identities. As a result, identities and identification are key processes through which people and groups orient themselves to each other and the world around them. Meaning, one’s involvement in the society through communication is vital to the process of identity building.

Further research presented the CTI view of identity as consisting of four frames: personal, enacted, relational, and communal. The personal frame encompasses what has traditionally been thought of as self and self-concept—the ways an individual conceives of self. The enacted frame is the performance or expression of identity. The relational frame refers to identities that are invested in relationships, exist in relationship to each other, and are ascribed in and through relationships. Lastly, the communal frame is composed of the identities that are characters of communities, meaning, it is held in common by groups rather than individuals. These identity frames go hand in hand with each other, as people are said to have multiple, intersecting identities.

For instance, I have my own perception of how I see myself (personal frame), which is different from how others see me based on how I act (enacted frame) with them depending on our relationships (relational frame), and my identity as part of a community such as my school.