Answering the question “who am I” is one of the most scattered things in people’s lives. The case becomes much more complex when it is extended to “who we are”, is really problematic when asked by/to a subgroup within a larger one. The issue starts giving alarm signals if differences become a source of opposition, as it is the case today.

Many scholars start their speeches as having still questions even though making several searches about the issue. Identity is not only differently, and even controversially, defined by different people; but also has several distinct aspects. Social identity can be basically defined as a person’s position in social life, while psychological aspect of the concept basically means to a person’s sense of self. Cultural identity refers to people’s cultural attributions and ethnic identity is related to people’s origins. Gender brings a completely different perspective to the issue and carries it to a very different dimension. The list can be further extended by stating different components of who we are. All in all, people have different characteristics from each other and feel comfortable if the others have similar ones with them. Its legacy is highly open to debate but the existence of tendency of staying away or even discriminating the ones who do not resemble themselves is a fact.

On the other hand, it is by no means an easy task for people to define themselves. The issue tends to mean too much, cover everything but explain nothing at all at the same time. The complexity and ambiguity of the concept does nothing but lead to confusion in many circumstances and even to serious social cleavages as we have witnessed recently in France. Although the rebellions in France showed the urgency of the situation once more in a quite

Different from the past, people’s affiliations play a very significant role in identity shaping. Today’s people are much mobile than their ancestors. People meet several identities, distinct from their own ones every day, encounter several challenges to their “original” identities and build up new ones by negotiating and renegotiating between their own ones and others. Migrating people are undoubtedly the ones who experience such processes much more than people who stay at places where they were born. Everything seems easier when there is no concern of defining who somebody is. But in the modern world, people do neither heritage identities from their parents nor live in the contexts of this heritage.

Identity is something cognitive and mostly constructed in people’s minds. It is very differently defined in different frames. For instance, being an “Amsterdammer[1]” can be the dominant identity when living in the Netherlands. However Amsterdammers are more likely to define themselves as Dutch when traveling abroad. If such travels take place across oceans it is highly probable that being a European will overwhelm the Dutch identity. People feel closeness to different identities in different circumstances and behave differently according to the circumstance they are in. When a Dutch meets an immigrant living in Amsterdam while being abroad, it is much more likely that the relation will be closer than it will be in the Netherlands.

To put it in a different context, people’s understandings and attitudes towards being something, usually carries much more importance than being the thing itself. Perceptions should be handled on the first hand to be able to overcome such difficulties. The gender identity is quite explanatory in this frame. Being a male or female has evidently serious outcomes in social life but the roles between two genders are mostly distributed according to the social values and norms of the community. Otherwise the role and the rights between men and women would be equal in authoritarian and open societies.

The issue is the same in the ethnic identity concept and in attitudes towards migrant groups. They are treated positively or negatively according to the context they are in rather than according to being an ethnic minority or a migrant itself. Minorities are suppressed in societies, in which race is an overwhelming issue. On the contrary, fair policies seem to be implemented in societies, where less emphasis is put on ethnic differences.