Introduction

Multiple theorisations were endeavoured to substantiate the concept of identity. Two main paradigms prevail in this discipline, including the relatively essentialist view and the postmodern constructionist perspective, recognising identity as property and performance, respectively. To integrate these two views, the present essay will argue that identity is a dynamic concept covering all cognitive, affective, and behavioural level. This essay will briefly review the two different epistemologies and then propose an integrative model of identity.

Identity as Property

Identity is comprehended as a property constructed by socialisation, featured by enculturation, multiplicity, and dynamicity (Tracy, 2002). It is argued that identity derives from an individual’s internalisation of the social principles whereby people learn the ‘appropriateness’ of social interaction (Cohen, 2000). Also, the acquisition of identity is multifaceted concerning different social contexts and interpersonal relationships (Zhu, 2018). Furthermore, identity is a dynamic and evolving feature influenced by both individual factors (e.g. enhancement of digital literacy) and social factors (e.g. economic environment) (Block, 2009).

Based on the above characteristics of identity, it is assumed that this paradigm categorises identity as a cognitive variable. It emphasises the negotiation between social reality and speakers’ cognition. Nevertheless, it also highlights the practical conflicts between one’s multiple identity (Zhu, 2018), which could be deduced that this cognitive ‘property’ is exhibited based on the affective situation. Therefore, the present essay would argue that identity can be a cognition-based concept acted out with the individual’s immediate evaluation of the situation.

Identity as Performance

From a different perspective, identity is performance formed and negotiated via communication. Through communication, speakers may narratively ‘tell a story’ about themselves in their own approaches, which defines their identity (De Fina, 2012). This paradigm emphasises three main elements, including the content of the story (Benwell & Stokoe, 2006), the strategies to express (De Fina, 2006), and the mutual evaluation between the information provider and receiver (Bauman, 1984; Bell & Gibson, 2011).

The emphasis on performance hypothesises that identity is a behavioural level variable, which can be an extension of the philosophy of speech act theory (Austin, 1975). However, based on previous literature, this behavioural concept is highly related to both cognitive and affective variables. On the one hand, some scholars (De Fina, 2012; Kotthoff, 2015)interested in the relationship between identity and narrative argued that the individual representation of their ‘story’ is based on their rhetorical choices (Bauman, 1984), the repertoire of which derives from cognition such as ‘culturally determined schemata’ (Nishida, 2005; Wood, 1999) and ‘performance devices’ (Bauman, 1986). On the other hand, the situationally driven and realised concept of identity, with an emphasis on the presence of audience (Bauman, 2000), may categorise it in affective level which is highly relevant to the appraisal of environment (Roseman & Smith, 2001). It seems that this perspective simultaneously supports and rejects individual’s agency because it acknowledges the efforts of self to perform identity (Bauman, 1986) but also believes the channel to perform as socially constructed (De Fina, 2006).

Integrative Model

Based on the previous review of two different perspectives, the present essay constructs a new socio-psychological model of identity (as shown in figure 1). This section will introduce the mechanism of this model and also apply this model to analyse the phenomenon of ‘crossing’ as an example.

Figure 1. A new socio-psychological model of identity

It is argued that identity is a concept in the continuum covering all three levels of variables (cognitive, affective, and behavioural). In the cognitive level, identity is constructed as a reflection of social reality, based on the internalisation of norms, rituals, and regulations. By adopting certain social reality, individuals will develop their own performance devices repertoire or culturally determined schemata, by which they have the ability to identify their memberships in and out different groups. In the affective level, identity is evolving with the appraisal of situations, which accentuates the active participation of societal circumstances and interlocutors. In the behavioural level, identity is the discursive performance in communication, which is a process of ‘expressing’.

Three important views exist in this model. First, all three levels of identity are interdependent and negotiate with each other. This means the concept of identity is simultaneously at these three stages containing the features of both property and performance, but not in a certain ‘point’ of this continuum. Second, this model hypothesises that identity is both stable and fluid because of its socio-psychological nature. It highlights the gradual conceptualisation of society and also the micro-level individual differences. In this regard, there is always a conflict and compromise between the agency of individuals and the force of ascribed attributes. Third, it exhibits the close relationship between identity and society. The social factors could be involved in an individual’s identity, and the performance per se will also reversely construct the society or ‘imagined community’ (Anderson, 2006). It means that the performance-based aspect of identity presented to the other social members may be recognised as one type of social reality which may influence the speaker him/herself and also the information receiver(s) in return.

Crossing, a term coined by Rampton (2014), describes the phenomenon that people utilise the linguistic representation of the speech community in which they are not recognised as typical members, to achieve specific social functions. Cognitively, crossing must happen within a speaker who has the knowledge of narrative normality of both his/her typical speech community and the abnormal one. This possession of performance devices entitles him/her to choose the pragmatic elements whereby the individual could identify his/her position in society. Then, the behavioural operationalisation of this cognition is the active performance of one’s identity. For example, if one biological male harbours a perceived female identity, the crossing could exist only when (s)he firstly comprehends the culturally determined schemata of these two groups and secondly chooses the devices of so-called female identity to perform him/herself. Furthermore, affectively, individual’s evaluation of the situation significantly correlates with their choice of narrative style. Therefore, individual may use different strategies of crossing based on numerous factors such as power relations and social distance.

Conclusion

This essay has reviewed two main perspectives considering identity as property and performance. It was argued that these two epistemologies recognise identity as a cognitive and behavioural variable, respectively. Together with the influence of affective variables, the present paper developed a tripartite model covering these three levels of concept. In the new model, identity is an integrative continuum reflected its essentialist features and also its post-structuralist features. In the future, more discussion should further verify this model and explore the operationalisation and instrumentation of this new concept of identity.

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