Dépasser la « construction des identités » ? identification, image sociale, appartenance

Abstract

This text presents a short history of the uses of the notion of identity, emphasizing the multiple meanings of the term between essentialist and constructivist. Even understood in the constructivist mode, the term is usually limited to an analysis of discourse, leading to a highly plastic perception of social worlds. By reintroducing social structures and institutions into the analysis, the text proposes to separate out the social phenomena incorporated in the indeterminate term "identity", preferring to speak instead of "identification" (administrative categorisation), social images (categorisation of representatives) and belonging (individual socialisation).