7 Worldview and Identities

Worldview can simply be defined as the “lens” through which we filter and shape our perception of reality. Our lens is shaped by:

• Family
• Experiences
• Cultural values
• Our social environment
• Education
• And more!

Every one of us approaches the world from a slightly different worldview. Some of us may be approaching it from a more different worldview than others (e.g., men and women). Worldviews determine how we think, behave, and feel as we navigate through the world. It is important to acknowledge that there is no one worldview and that we need to appreciate the different worldviews of others. Worldviews help us explain why people understand, feel, and experience, the same thing very differently.

Culture

Everyone has cultural values because everyone lives in and grew up in a culture. It is harder to recognize our own cultural values if we have only lived in one culture. For example, one of the more easily recognizable cultural values is the difference between individualism and collectivism. Individualism is defined by an individual being motivated by their own preferences and needs (e.g., do what you think is best). Collectivism is defined by an individual being motivated by the group’s preferences and needs (e.g., family always comes first).

Experience

Different experiences can have a strong influence on worldview. The more impactful the experience, the stronger impact on worldview. For example, being in the military is likely to have a strong impact on worldview. As we all have different experiences, our worldviews will differ from one another in ways that reflect those different experiences.

Education has been a widely documented factor in influencing worldviews (Pew Research Center, 2016). Education does, however, generally expose an individual to different experiences, understandings, histories, and ways of thinking.

Social Environment

The worldviews present within our social environment also have an effect on us. The social environment can make our worldview more similar to that of the environment (e.g., political views are more likely to be similar within families). If we perceive the social environment to be hostile, we may develop a worldview contrary to that of our social environment (e.g., LGBTQ+ individual growing up in a homophobic household). We also have an influence on the worldview of our social environment and the people in it. People are more willing to express their worldviews in social environments where they feel their worldview is shared by others.

Personal and Social Identities, Privilege and Oppression

Critical social psychology describes identity as a social construction that is learned through interactions with others and the world, and that has a strong impact on who we become (Allen & Rosatto, as cited in Shah, 2018). Social privilege exists on the basis of complex and intersecting social identities, such as race, gender, ability, class, faith/religion, age, and sexuality and the relative distance of these identities to dominant identities and power (Black & Stone, as cited in Shah, 2018).

Social Identity

Social identities can be defined as groups that are based on the physical, social, and mental characteristics of individuals. They are sometimes obvious and clear– sometimes not–often self-claimed, and frequently ascribed by others, but can also be born into. In other words, our social identity groups may sometimes be visible and obvious to others, and it may sometimes be less obvious or visible to others. They are also something that we create together as a society. I may claim specific language around my identities, and others may look at me and ascribe their own language on to me. When that language aligns, it can feel really validating, but when that language doesn’t align, it can feel invalidating.

My group membership isn’t something anyone can deny me, but it is certainly something we navigate with others both inside and outside of our social identity groups. In navigating our social identities, we are also navigating the historical and contemporary relationships of power and privilege between groups. When thinking of social identities, we also want to consider how that group relates to societal power. Examples of social identity groups might include: race, ethnicity, gender, sex, sexual orientation, class/socioeconomic status, religious or spiritual affiliation, ability, citizenship, nation of origin, tribal affiliation, and age.

Several common social identity categories are listed below. The list isn’t exhaustive, and many identity categories aren’t listed.

Personal Identity

Social identity is different from personal identity because of the emphasis on the individual rather than a collective group. Personal identity is what differentiates us from others within a social identity group, whereas social identity is how we categorize both ourselves and others. Things like my Myers-Briggs type, astrological sign, career choice, hobbies, skills, likes/dislikes, extroversion, and position within my family are all very important ways I have of understanding myself as well as differentiating myself from others within my social identity groups, and we would likely think of these as personal identities.