Identity: Sociological Perspectives

Questions about who we are, who we can be, and who is like and unlike us underpin a vast range of contemporary social issues. What makes our families so important to us? Why do we attach such significance to being ourselves? Why do so many television programmes promise to revolutionise our lives? Who are we really? In this highly readable new book, Steph Lawler examines a range of important debates about identity. Taking a sociological perspective, she shows how identity is produced and embedded in social relationships, and worked out in the practice of peoples everyday lives. She challenges the perception of identity as belonging within the person, arguing instead that it is produced and negotiated between…