Exploration of the Multidimensional Phenomenon of Identity

Abstract

The term identity has been in use since the sixteenth century, and it comes from the Latin word "identitas, idem", meaning "identical". The scientific world has different approaches to the description of the multidimensional phenomenon of identity.

In psychology, identity is understood as an individual's private experience of his personality, but in other scientific disciplines it is seen as a sense of cohesion connecting individuals of one society. Identity consists both in other people's perceptions of the individual and in the individual's personal understanding of himself. Identity is formed in close connection with the environment, that is, with the family and with social communities. It should be emphasized that identity is understood not only as the self-consciousness of the individual, this phenomenon is described as a social phenomenon. Identity is a changeable phenomenon, it has to do not only with one individual, but with the whole society. In this article we consider in detail the existing approaches and definitions of the phenomenon of identity.