European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

194 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL, GROUP AND SOCIETYaccording to one´s way of understanding sex; family identity according toone´s particular family tree, etc.In this last case, one realizes how complex and arbitrary the map ofavailable identities of a given society can be. However, there are otheridentity distributions which are even more arbitrary, such as thosecreated according to ethnic identities. In fact, the latter are enough tomake us aware of how important identities can be, even those whichare arbitrarily structured and built, in order to actually determine thesocial interaction and the social accomplishments of the individualsconcerned.Another aspect which should be remembered is that socialidentities are often “role identities”, shaped in accordance with thetype of activities that an individual normally carries out —for example,the identity of the engineer—, but other times they do not involve aspecific role, but rather a “place” within common appreciation. Forinstance, identifying someone as a coherent person; or, in somereligious groups, identifying someone as a saint. The interest of theseformal clarifications will become evident later on, when they areapplied to educational processes for European identity.Finally, the implementation of a process of school assimilation ofemerging identities, as is the case of European identity, would have tobe preceded by a process of identity shaping or definition, withrecognisable traits and according to a map of identity relationships andalso by the anchoring of the identity —its traits and relationships— tosocial representations shared by the groups the students belong to.Indeed, an emerging identity figure proposed to some individuals to beassimilated through identification may be outlined within a specificcommunication context, with features that are understandable withinit yet irrelevant and meaningless in the everyday social environmentthose individuals belong to. So the latter, in the communicationcontext mentioned, will cognitively understand the traits of thatidentity, yet will perceive them as non pertinent outside of that contextand, consequently, they will not personally identify with it. Forexample: a TV programme may explain the social position and identityof Siberian Shamans, but it would be pointless to expect viewers toreally identify with them.To sum up, before the assimilation processes of an emergingidentity takes place, firstly, the figure of the identity should betransmitted with a sufficiently distinct profile; secondly, the identityfigure ought to be placed within a realm of identity relationshipsstructured in accordance to variables or characteristics pertinent tothose who will be able to identify with it; and thirdly, the perception of