Belonging and identity for entrepreneurs

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Belonging and identity for entrepreneurs

• Dr Rick Muir, Research Fellow
• Institute for Public Policy Research

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1. Context

• Growing cultural diversity
• The rise of individualism
• Globalisation the insertion of the global into
  the local
• Decline of some traditional group identities
  reassertion of others
• Political soul searching about Britishness,
  multiculturalism and community cohesion

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2. What is identity?

• It is about who we understand ourselves to be
• It is essentially both personal and social
• It is never fixed identification is a process in
  which meaning is constantly asserted, contested
  and negotiated
• It requires individual agency one cannot be
  forced to identify with something

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2. What is identity?

• Different aspects of our identities become more
  important to us in different contexts
• Identities are shaped in part through the
  interplay of power and resistance
• Symbols and narratives play an important role in
  the communication of identities
• Our identities have diverse sources and some are
  less susceptible to change than others (body,
  gender, family, ethnicity)

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2. What is identity?

• Identities are always formed through comparisons
  of similarity and difference me and you, them
  and us etc.

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3. Why is it important?

• Psychologically it is a precondition for living
  eg) without a coherent sense of self we would be
  unable to live a good life
• We have a natural desire to belong to wider
  groups
• We have a natural desire to root ourselves in a
  longer chronology stories help give our lives
  meaning
• We have a basic need to distinguish ourselves
  from others

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4. Identities in the UK

• National identities
• A slight global decline 1981 31 chose nation as
  their most important geographical identity,
  compared to 27 in 1999
• British identity has declined relative to
  English, Scottish and Welsh identities (1996 52
  preferred British, compared to 44 in 2005)

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4. Identities in the UK

• Local identities (town or local area)
• More popular than national identities in the UK
  56 identify with their local area first, 25
  with the nation first.
• Local identities have become increasingly
  important in Britain (1990 to 2000 saw a rise in
  those choosing local identity first)
• Slightly more important to members of BME groups
  than population as a whole.
• Local identification is weakest in London

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4. Identities in the UK

• Cosmopolitan identities
• Global identity remains weak
• European identity weaker in Britain than in other
  parts of Europe (10 choose it first 2004)

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4. Identities in the UK

• Class
• Major change in occupational structure in 1911
  75 in manual work, compared to 28 in 2000.
• But most British people still say they are
  working class 57 say working class, 37 middle
  class
• Class awareness has not significantly changed
  overall since the 1960s although its social and
  political implications have (people of the same
  social class are less likely to share the same
  world view today than in 1960s)
• Class identity is not just about the job you
  currently do its about upbringing and roots as
  well

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4. Identities in the UK

• Religion
• Less important in UK than elsewhere just 33 of
  Britons say religion is important to them,
  compared to 59 of Americans, 77 of Brazilians
  and 92 of Indians.
• Number identifying as belonging to the Christian
  religion fallen from 66 in 1983 to 54 in 2004.
• Sunday church attendance fell by 31 for C of E
  and 49 for Catholic Church 1989-2005.
• Religious diversity has increased and religion
  much more important to members of BME communities
  (and for some groups increasingly so).

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5. Implications

• Identification is a basic human need like any
  other that entrepreneurs might help meet
  (although typically we have tended to look to
  public and civic institutions to embody and
  promote shared identities)
• They should at least be aware of these important
  drivers of social change, which affect the
  context in which they operate

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5. Implications

• Identity trends with market implications
• People communicate and assert their identities
  through how they look and the things they wear
  we are consumers of identity
• The need to distinguish ourselves from others
  means that there is a market for services that
  enable self-expression
• Despite the dominant ethic of individualism there
  is also a clear desire for shared experiences in
  areas such as sport and music (eg World Cup
  hysteria, the London Olympics, music festivals)
• There is a need to understand ourselves as part
  of a longer chronology (eg extraordinary and
  growing popularity of family history)
• Globalisation, migration and new media
  technologies have created a growing market for
  more specialised media content television
  channels catering for global diasporas for
  instance

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5. Implications

• Identity trends with market implications
• We know more about peoples identities than we
  did enables greater differentiation and
  specialisation when marketing products
• The public sector is increasingly concerned to
  promote a shared public realm and strong civic
  identities. They may do this through developing
  new public events, improving the built and
  natural environment etc which private actors can
  help deliver.

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5. Implications

• What do you think?
• Questions/discussion
• Dr Rick Muir
• Institute for Public Policy Research
• r.muir_at_ippr.org