Theoretical perspectives on identity: researching identities in healthcare education

This chapter provides an overview of a range of identity theories alongside a more in-depth exploration of one particular approach: social constructionism. Social constructionism is a grand theory, asserting that knowing in the social world is created through social interaction. This chapter begins by outlining three different individualist approaches to identity: identity statuses and related theories; socio-cognitive approaches and narrative approaches. It then focuses on the social constructionist approach. The chapter presents examples of how social constructionism was utilized in studies employing written, audio and visual qualitative methods. Social identity theory (SIT) was the first to theorise a form of identity distinct from a personal identity. It focuses on identity at the level of the group. Social constructionism asserts that language and action are central and identities are, therefore, discursively constructed though talk and interaction, rather than being constructed within an individual's cognition.