Identity: theoretical review on a polysemic concept

Abstract

The study on identity has become increasingly common and necessary for the understanding and reflection of an individual who had once been religious and philosophical, then had been replaced by the citizen and later by the worker. The various areas of science which study identity reveal how complex this topic is, since it is portrayed as being a multi-faceted process, i.e., it is delineated by relationships and experiences that the individual has established throughout his or her existence. There are no eternal essences because the changes happen in a social dynamic due to the various cultural and historical relations. It is an unfinished process that undergoes multiple transformations and, at the same time, presents a certain permanence at its core. In this sense our goal is to understand the concepts of identity.