Thesis
There can be very little doubt as to the fact that experiences do play rather important role in defying the essence of one’s identity and also in how a particular individual perceives such an identity. Nevertheless, the application of strictly environmentalist approach to dealing with identity-related discourses cannot be considered fully appropriate. In this paper, I will aim to explore the validity of an earlier statement at length.
Analytical part
Nowadays, it became quite fashionable among ‘progressive’ social sciences to come up with a suggestion that is namely people’s experiences that define who they are, as individuals. But what is experience? Experience is nothing but one’s memory of how he or she had dealt with existential challenges at certain point of its life.
And, as the recent breakthroughs in the field of genetics indicate – it is namely the specifics of a particular individual’s biological makeup, which characterizes the qualitative subtleties of how he or she addresses these challenges, more than anything else does.
For example, regardless of how ‘underprivileged’ a concerned individual may be, in social context of this word, for as long as the rate of this person’s IQ is above 110, the chances for him or her to attain social prominence would still be rather high – after all, in post-industrial world, it is specifically one’s endowment with an ability to operate with abstract categories (intellect), which reflects upon his or her value, as society’s member.
And, once this individual succeeds with setting itself on the path of attaining social prominence, his or her life-experiences are going to positive – hence, contributing to the construction of this individual’s identity as someone whose very existence benefits the society.
Alternatively, for as long as the rate of one’s IQ is within the range of 70-80 or below, as it is often the case among students and employees, qualified for ‘affirmative action’ programs, it would be very unlikely for such person’s life-experiences to be positive, because it is namely the acuteness of this individual’s animalistic urges and not his or her analytical abilities, which will define the qualitative essence of how he or she would be reacting to existential challenges.
Given the fact that, during the course of last fifty years, Western societies became almost completely secularized, it makes perfectly logical sense for citizens to think of making money as foremost priority in their lives.
After all, it is not a secret that, as of today, a particular individual’s identity is being assessed through the lenses of his or her ‘monetary value’ – the more money we have, the more our identity is being appreciated. Had it been otherwise, people would not be buying expensive ‘brand name’ products in an attempt to emphasize their identity as successful individuals, who can afford buying these products, in the first place.
Yet, there are essentially only two ways towards attaining social prominence, and consequentially becoming rich – pursuing a well-paid professional career, or pursuing the career of a drug-dealer. And, it goes without saying, of course, that only people that are being biologically predisposed towards studying, due to the high rate of their IQ, who may choose in favor of the first option.
For the rest, there is simply place under the sun in this world, unless they had proven themselves lucky enough not to get caught, while peddling drugs on the streets or scheming to take an advantage of social assistance programs.
Conclusion
As we are well aware of, it is not utterly uncommon to hear people complaining about the bad choices they had made in the past. Nevertheless, only few of these complainers seem to understand that the choices, they had made during the course of their lives, were dialectically predetermined – at the time of making a particular choice, this choice appeared for them being the most logical.
And, it is namely who we are, in biological sense of this word, which reflects upon the qualitative essence of our life-choices, which in its turn defines the essence of our life-experiences – pure and simple.
Whereas, for one person it might appear that, the easiest and therefore most logical way to achieve financial security would be robbing a bank, another person, capable of operating with abstract categories, would be more likely to think of the easiest way towards becoming rich along the lines of doing something else, such as trading on stock exchange, or getting a patent on its science or industry related invention, for example.