FYS 101: Identity

This essential and timely text looks at the ways in which various identities are socially constructed by students, exploring and comparing multiple dimensions of diverse identities, and the various ways students try to fit in when faced with prejudice and discrimination. Based on more than 20 years of data collected from Multiple Identities Questionnaires, plus Self-Identity papers in the author's Diverse Identities course, this book gives voice to the diverse and intersectional identities experienced by students at a formative time in their lives. Analyzing data from more than three thousand college students, the book gives a uniquely comprehensive overview of identity formation, stigma, prejudice, and discrimination, which are part of conflict around the world. Author Charles T. Hill asks to what extent the students have experienced prejudice or discrimination regarding each of their identities, their own prejudice and discrimination toward others of each identity, and the importance of each type of identity for their self-concept. Split into three sections: the first part of the book gives an overview of terminologies and theoretical concepts, the second part explores the multiple dimensions of each identity using data from the MIQ interspersed with quotes from Self-Identity papers, and the third part compares and combines the different types of identities. Introduced with a foreword by Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies James M. Jones, the book opens a space to help students and others explore their identities, realize that they are not alone in their struggles with prejudice, and accept themselves with pride in their identities. Featuring highlighted key concepts and self-reflection sections, as well as further reading, measures, and statistical results, this book is essential not only for undergraduate and graduate students in social psychology, health psychology, sociology, ethnic studies, and social work, but also for therapists, parents, teachers and practitioners running Diversity Training Programs for non-students.

What causes some people to stand in solidarity with those from other races, religions, or nationalities, even when that solidarity does not seem to benefit the individual or their group? Seeing Us in Them examines outgroup empathy as a powerful predisposition in politics that pushes individuals to see past social divisions and work together in complex, multicultural societies. It also reveals racial/ethnic intergroup differences in this predisposition, rooted in early patterns of socialization and collective memory. Outgroup empathy explains why African Americans vehemently oppose the border wall and profiling of Arabs, why Latinos are welcoming of Syrian refugees and support humanitarian assistance, why some white Americans march in support of Black Lives Matter through a pandemic, and even why many British citizens oppose Brexit. Outgroup empathy is not naïve; rather it is a rational and necessary force that helps build trust and maintain stable democratic norms of compromise and reciprocity.

In this comprehensive, accessible handbook, acclaimed social theorist Anthony Elliott brings together internationally distinguished and emergent scholars in the social sciences and humanities to review the major theoretical traditions, trends and trajectories in the hugely popular field of identity studies.  The Routledge Handbook of Identity Studies set new standards for reference works when first published, such was the far-reaching sweep of topics discussed - including identity studies reconfigured by feminism, post-structuralism and postmodernism, individualization theories, media and cultural studies, race and ethnicity, consumerism, environmentalism, post-colonialism, globalization and many more. This second edition of the handbook contains new contributions, including an updated general introduction from Anthony Elliott on the fast-changing conditions and contours of identity transformations in the global age. There are also new chapters on the emergence of posthuman identities - with specific focus on the global consequences of biotechnology, biomedicine, robotics and artificial intelligence for the analysis of identity - and on identity mobilities. The handbook's clear and accessible format will appeal to a wide undergraduate audience, as well as researchers and teachers, in the social sciences and humanities.