Identity Configurations: A New Perspective on Identity Formation in Contemporary Society

TLDR

Identity configuration is a theoretical construct describing how individuals arrange potentially conflicting identifications during identity formation. The study aims to explicate these configurations by analyzing narratives of identity development retold by individuals experiencing personal identity conflicts within sociocultural contexts. Thirty Jewish modern Orthodox young adults were interviewed about conflicts between their religious and sexual identities. Four distinct configurations were identified—choice and suppression, assimilative and synthesizing, confederacy of identifications, and thrill of dissonance—and their implications for identity theory were illustrated with exemplars.

Abstract

Abstract This paper deals with the theoretical construct of “identity configuration.” It portrays the different possible ways in which individuals configure the relationship among potentially conflicting identifications in the process of identity formation. In order to explicate these configurations, I analyzed narratives of identity development retold by individuals describing personal identity conflicts that arise within a larger context of sociocultural conflict. Thirty Jewish modern orthodox young adults were interviewed regarding a potentially conflictual identity issue (i.e. their religious and sexual development). Their deliberations, as described in the interviews, were examined, and four different configurations were identified: a configuration based on choice and suppression; an assimilative and synthesizing configuration; a confederacy of identifications; and a configuration based on the thrill of dissonance. The different configurations are illustrated through exemplars, and the possible implications of the concept of “configuration” for identity theory are discussed.