IDENTITY PROBLEMS: THE MAIN MODERN APPROACHES

Marich Yuri Sergeevich

The article is devoted to the actual problem of human identity as a dynamic and nonlinear process. The interdisciplinarity of the modern identity theory proceeds, on the one hand, from the sociological theories of the early XX century, and on the other – from the philosophical studies of the consciousness phenomenology. The author sets himself the task of summarizing modern studies of individual and group (social) identity by including works on cultural identity in the review. Following N.L. Polyakova, the author identifies three main approaches to the identity problems that have developed in the modern scientific tradition, and gives a brief description of each of them. There are interactionist approach (primarily in psychological research), postmodern (or radical constructivist) approach and constructionist approach, including cognitive studies, cognitive-discursive and structural-semiotic studies. The last of the listed approaches seems to be the most adequate for the study of identity within the scientific field of cultural studies. Culturology, as a fundamentally interdisciplinary knowledge, uses a text (narrative) in which a person speaks about himself as data for study of identity. Identity, that is, the organization and representation of one's life experience, is determined by the narrative of a person about himself as a constructed image of himself, "narrative identity" (Paul Ricoeur). The culture text cannot exist outside the expression of identity and at the same time is a way of constructing identity. The multiplicity of identifications is becoming a key issue in modern identity theory. The way to resolve it defines the borders between different approaches to the problem of identity itself.

Keywords:identity, phenomenology, sociocultural constructs, narrative identity.