Philosophy -- Society and Identity Is there such a thing as true identity? To what extent does our concern about how people perceive us affect our identity? Do you feel the society brands you as a man, a woman, a teenager, a college student, an Asian, a Middle Eastern, an American, etc. And places expectations on you accordingly? Is it possible to discover the real us? How? While pondering, look around you. Your room, your clothes, your belonging, how much of it represents you, and how much represents the current style?

There is such a thing as a "true" identity, but it can be very hard to differentiate that from our superficial identity, mainly because so much of what the average person's identity is a function of social conditioning and all of the external influences that shape who we are in our communities and societies. Much of the...

For example, we choose clothing substantially for the audience of other people who we expect to encounter and we develop tastes in entertainment media, such as music, in particular, largely as a result of who our friends and peers are, and more so for those reasons than for the intrinsic elements of the music we choose to listen to. We form personal identities that reflect the norms, values, and expectations of our families, communities, cultures of origin, and our societies. To a large extent, these elements of our individual identities are arbitrary and would have been entirely different if we happened to have been born into and raised in a different social environment. In that sense, they are dictated by external elements rather…