Tma_6_2011

Assignment 06 Evaluate the claim that life changes lead to changes in personal identity. How life changes lead to changes in personal identity' This will be looked at by the use of empirical research which includes detailed interviews of twenty first time mothers and observational research data (six of the twenty), over the time span of the first year of their babies being born, as well as looking at the ideas of ordinary conflict, identification, practices and relationships that help to shape identity changes, and past researches. The reasoning behind choosing this particular group to study, for this subject as the practical use of the new mothers study was to help with post natal depression, understand the transition involved in becoming a mum to give practical support for new mums in the area studied (tower Hamlets), and to give training to professionals such as G. P’s, midwifes and health visitors. Hollway (2009) The area was chosen for its diverse group of ethnicity, class, living and partner circumstances, all were living in the same location, so shared local services (all gave birth in the same hospital) so it could be explored how place affected a change in identity. The number of 20 first time mothers for the interview research, and the smaller group of six for the observational part of this study, (as much more data is produced), was chosen because this number was big enough to include as much variety as possible, as well as, not providing so much data that the researchers did not have the means to make sense of the findings within the time limit of the study. this also encouraged the new mums to talk about their experiences and watch how the new mother now interacted with the family, but especially with the baby, observing also allowed the observer to see how the new mother held the baby, David Winnicott suggests that ‘bodily holding’ contains important elements of holding in a wider psychological sense, such as being reliable and providing security, so therefore, holding can say a lot about a mother/child relationship. Erikson studied how a person’s identity changed over time by experiences they had from both the past and present, he defined ones identity as a continuous being or entity that is different from others, he was convinced that as circumstances of a person’s life changed so did their identity. Erikson called this ‘a series of identity crisis’ this could be either small or extensive conflicts that make a person react in a way that helps to reform their identity as a whole. Identities change over a person’s life time whether it is physical (change of hair colour), time related (getting older) or through their changing their practices to meet life situations that force them to change the way they behave. The study of first time mothers was also chosen because of the extensive changes they have to make by having to put another being first, before their own needs and how this helps to change their identity. As all these new practices turn to habits, and in turn, becomes routine everyday tasks, they re-enforce the new identity. This is one way of seeing how identities can change over a period of time, and how the practices of looking after someone else affects the identity, the actions of feeding, changing, and winding, as well as learning how to act in this new relationship will all help to establish this new identity of being a mother. The study shows how relationships can alter the identity of a person. This is because ‘mum’s’ are treated differently by others, and can affect the way others behave towards them, as they are no longer seen as the daughter, niece or wife but as a mother, this is in agreement with Erikson’s theory of ‘ordinary conflict’ changing one’s identity. The new mother can also place herself in her mother’s position by imagining herself, as her mother did when she also had her first child, as not just imagining how her mum felt but, knowing how her mother felt, as both have now experienced the same kind of ‘conflict’ in their life, this action also has an effect on one’s identity, Gous (2004, p.257) calls this ‘identification’ and he describes this as ‘self as mother’ ‘self as child’ so, therefore, ‘mother-of-self-as-child’ enabling the new mother to identify with their mother and baby. Changes in a person’s identity through relationships are occurring constantly, sons and daughters become mothers and fathers, and go from young to old, this defines ‘who we are’ by what we choose to do and who we choose to be with, these old relationships help to keep continuity in our identities, as well as help to change how we are seen by people, depending on where we are and who we are with, as new friendships are made, then our behaviour changes to meet perceived expectations. In a lifetime people’s identity can change, but still have the basic continuity of self. In both the interview and the observational studies, extracts of the data were selected, which were the subject of detailed interpretations using the grammar of phrases and the knowledge of the case by the researcher, Silma, (one of the case studies) lived in her in-laws house with her husband, the interviewer felt that the baby was wanted ‘hungrily’ by the whole family. Silma’s relationship with the neighbours changed as a result of becoming a mother, the way they interacted and reacted towards Silma after the baby was born, changed their behaviour and the way they spoke to her. In an interview on returning from the hospital, Silma said she was so proud that they could look at me and say “Hay, I’ve got a baby” and NOT “Hay, Silma has a baby”, through the grammar used, it demonstrates that an identity is always being positioned and repositioned by other peoples responses towards us. This is a good example of how relational identity is renegotiated daily. These social interactions with neighbours gives rise to the claim of Billing (1976, p.274) who defines social identification as “the process by which any individual is bound to his [sic] social group and by which he realises his social self” stressing that identification is a ‘process’ rather than an act. Freud (1921) said that identification is the earliest expression of an emotional tie with another person. Silma also felt that her aunts respected her more, as she now gets formal dinner invites, rather than the oh just drop by any time approach from them. Silma now likes to hang around to listen to her aunts talk, and berates her younger sister for ‘doing stuff’ that Silma used to do herself, before the baby. Silma’s prefers to wear clothes that cover her body, and she puts this down to ‘well I’ve changed’. This suggests that Silma is not comfortable with exposing her body in tight jeans, since having the baby, this is examples of an identity practice in the stages of changing between her old identity (younger sister) and her new one (aunts), the disconnections and connections within relationships help change a person’s identity, this is in line with Erikson’s idea of stages passed with ‘ordinary conflict and identity’. The body also changes quite rapidly when someone is expecting a baby and most of the women in the study were looking forward to ‘getting their body back’ which shows that they were keen to get their old identities back too. Some identity traits are not changeable, as the colour of the skin, ethnic or biological identities (male or female). In conclusion, the drawbacks of this type of research involves how a researchers own social identity affects interpretation of the data material, this is called ‘researcher reflexivity’, so interview material should be treated as provisional and open to other’s perspectives. The researcher also has to take into consideration when analysing the data that the ‘subject’ knows that they are being watched. Overgeneralisation can also be a drawback in this type of research. I have looked at ordinary conflict, identification, practices and relationships to see how these all affect the process of identity change. Although, I can see the connections of how identity changes through all these concepts, this study did not take into consideration any other types of social mothering, foster, step, adoptive, extended family, siblings, family or just fathers who take care of the child. The area covered was only local, but, the researcher’s said the place could also result in a change of identity, however, there is not enough evidence to show this, as the research was focused in only one area, therefore giving no evidence for comparison. The research was only over a short period of time so the information that was gathered from the subjects could be a forced behaviour put on for just for the interview/observers benefit as not familiar enough to act naturally. References Hollway, W. (2009), ‘Identity change and Identification’ in Bromley, S., Clarke, J., Hinchliffe, S. and Taylor, S. (Eds) Exploring Social Lives, Milton Keynes, The Open University.