In line with the author’s ideas, claiming of identity is the taking up of unique life styles that relates to the advantage at that moment or a different lifestyle from what you are, in dressing, behaving or even adoption of a different culture. Wide range of reasons has great influence over the identity of a person. These reasons are a sign of a person’s integration with his/her immediate or neighbouring environment and vary from acceptance in a group, glamour associated with the identity, security, and peer pressure among other reasons. The media also plays a major role in the claiming of one’s identity.
Claiming of identity is common phenomenon that applies in every individual’s life regardless of the period one acknowledges the identity. Let us take for instance a normal life situation that we all at one time claim our identity. During adolescence, an adolescent becomes a member a peer group r by conforming to its behaviours such as smoking, drinking or engaging in other activities, as the group would command. The adolescent obeys the group rules should they be good or bad as way of seeking identification with the group hence claiming their identity. Such instance therefore indicates that at some point in life as human being, we all claim an identity. The claiming of identity here is for obtaining acceptance in a social group in life within a certain period in human development.
Claiming of an identity is an essence of coercing with other individuals in a diverse social setting. Some people recognize themselves with their parents ethnic or race backgrounds. For instance, while associating with whites, a person who is born by an Asian mother and a White father will claim to be white despite having a dark skin tone. According to the author, one can claim any identity regardless of where one was born, the colour of skin or even where one comes from. Such situation applies even in work places where you find the minority embracing the majority by claiming a race or an ethnic stand that unites them.
In other instances, initially people were not able to manoeuvre beyond certain boundaries. For instance, the strict securing of the San Leandro borders by police making them practically impermeable. Today Geographical boundaries are broken and specific circumstances captures and accounts for experiences of all the major global societies. This means that the worldview of racial differences consists of values and believes. People are thus able to find their own identity and shape their inter-personal relationship. The wide variation regarding values and believes assist to distinguish people of different origins.
Common practices especially among the teenagers are the imitation of values or believe without biasing particular system or a set of practices. They are ready to accept and merge into different ideas or practices in the effort of finding and nurturing their identity. The diversification of cultures, religions, races or ethnic groups arguably provides them with the chance to exploit various setting and mimic particular identities in favour of their engagement at the time.
In line with case study, there is an inner pride of belonging to a particular race instead of false impersonation. Nicole Huffstutler is able to associate with different races and ethnic group because she has an inner pride to associate with either German, India, France and America while at the same time claim white. This shows that she is proud of her race. From this interpretation, people act by seeking the reflection of their consciousness or authenticity of the feelings as opposed to a manifestation of principals such as cultural or ethnical differences.
The ideas of psychology of private life in the modern times are hectic considering that there is wide independence regarding social interaction, environmental influences and impulsive differences in generations. The conscious mind remains as the only private life that cannot suffer the harsh social or cultural differences and thus it lingers as an isolated entity and basis for finding personal identity.
The same inner personality is also a principal burden due to the confusion brought about by the ability to find different identities depending on the circumstances and the social setting. Currently, a major challenge involves the impossibility to understand oneself because the mimicking behaviour is the foundation of seeking an understanding of the world. The refinement of personality is extremely important due to need to stand by your own identity. We lack the ability to give account of ourselves and it becomes more difficult to experience and express feelings.
Evidence of claiming race or ethnicity is common especially in conflict situation where simple individual difference generate to racial or ethnic conflict due to other participants basing their stand on their ethnic or racial claims. On the other hand, there are many challenges and right to multi-cultural interactions, which contribute to growth or protest in the current social settings. For instance, in universities students are able to form social organization based on their ethnical backgrounds. This becomes a motivational factor to seek self-identity through joining particular groups.