San Antonio College Library

The notion of identity -- personal, religious, ethnic, or national -- has given rise to heated passions and crimes throughout history. What makes each one of us unique has been a fundamental question of philosophy from Socrates to Freud. This book argues that the concept of identity that prevails the world over is still very much tribal. It allows men of all countries, conditions, and faiths to be transformed into butchers and fanatics, passing themselves...

Theories of identity have been built largely on biological, psychological, sociological, and anthropological grounds. Missing from each of these, yet of potential relevance to them all, is a community theory of identity such as the one developed here. Situating Selves presents studies of five American scenes, focusing on the ways social identities are communicatively crafted. Based on fifteen years of fieldwork, the book presents fine-grained analyses...

"The Power of Identity is the second volume of Manuel Castells's trilogy, The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture. It deals with the social, political, and cultural dynamics associated with the technological transformation of our societies and with the globalization of the economy. It analyzes the importance of cultural, religious, and national identities as sources of meaning for people, and the implications of these identities for social...