An Introduction to the Concept of Identity

1
An Introduction to the Concept of Identity

• Martin Rost
• Independent Centre of Privacy Protection (ICPP)
• Germany, Kiel
• martin.rost_at_datenschutzzentrum.de
• 2003-12-02

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Overview

• ICPP
• The semantic field of the term identity
• Constitution of identity through communication
  ofdifferent but same things, continuity in
  change, role-conflicts
• The three types of social / communicational
  constitution of identity
• interaction system, organisational system, social
  subsystem
• The idea of industrialisation of communication
  as basic theory for discussing technological
  supported identity management
• standardisation and mechanisation of all socially
  relevant communications

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ICPP - Independent Centre for Privacy Protection

• Regional authority (Germany, Schleswig-Holstein,
  Kiel)
• 36 employees (52 lawyers, 34 technicians,14
  service)
• Functions and objectives
• Mainly Monitoring the actions of regional and
  local authorities and also the actions of private
  organisations in relation to the right to
  informational self-determination of individuals.
• Producing privacy protection. This could mean
• Participation in political decisions and
  juridical proceedings
• Awarding seals of approvals and audits as part of
  an economical perspective
• Participation in development and propagation of
  Privacy Enhancing Technologies (like
  crypto-tools, identity management technologies,
  P3P)

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Semantic field of identity 1 - the space (or
better ontology) version

• Statement The different is the same and the same
  is the different. Things are numerically
  different and/but characterially equal.
• Identity in this meaning is the sameness of
  different things.

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Semantic field of identity 2 - the time version

• Statement The different is the same over the
  years.This is characterising everything which is
  living.
• Identity in this meaning is continuity in change.

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Semantic field of identity 3 - identification

• Numerically different but characterially equal
  and continuity in change are the conditions for
  identification the relevant aspects of a citizen
  or a customer.
• location and time of birth
• biometrical characteristics (sex, portrait,
  fingerprint)
• name

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Semantic field of identity 4 - the
social-psychological version

• Statement The personal identity is constituted
  by handling systemically inducted
  role-conflicts.
• Identity (of a person (persona playing a role
  in a mask)) is the product of handled conflicts
  between the I and the different expectations of
  the Me.

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Partial Identities of Person Alice
Identities Management
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The social constitution of identity

• Statement Different types of identities of a
  person are produced permanently through different
  types of communications respectively social
  systems
• interaction system
• based on presence of people
• organisational system
• based on membership and the communication of
  decisions
• social subsystem
• based on the communicational reachability by
  symbolically generalised communication media

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The social construction of identity1 - identity
in interaction systems

• Depends on presence and taking part on
  communication (like speaking).
• congruence of identity I am who I am. (the
  way to speak, to walk, the sound of the voice
  ...)
• authenticity I am who I claim I am. (the way
  to look like ...)
• identification Who are you? - But I am your old
  friend! ...
• authentication Are you who you say you are?
• Given social frames organise spontaneous
  interactions by giving subjects roughly
  schematised (but not really standardised) roles
  they have to play.
• Subjects trust each other (or they dont) as
  subjects, but they cant trust the frames of
  interaction (friendship is not liable under a
  contract).

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The social construction of identity2a - identity
in social subsystems

• There are four main social subsystems in the
  globalised world, which operate as closed
  self-organised systems (Reference Talcott
  Parsons / Niklas Luhmann)
• economical system,
• political system,
• law system,
• scientific system.
• These systems operate on the base of different
  symbolically generalised communication media
• payment / not-payment, with prices as condition,
• political power / not power, with programs as
  condition,
• right / not right, with laws as condition,
• true / not true, with theory and methods as
  condition.

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The social construction of identity2b - identity
in social subsystems

• Communications inducted by social subsystems are
  schematical (binary formed). According to these
  generalised and well-formed communications
  everyone has to play a generalised role as a
• customer or client (economical system)and
• citizen or townsman (political / law system)and
• subject, individual, person, patient, creature
  (scientific system)and
• employee (organisational systems).
• Without access to money, elections, laws, and
  theories one cannot cultivate a complex identity
  in modern society.
• Persons could trust in proceedings and
  communication media but had not in (normally
  unknown) persons.

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The social construction of identity3a - identity
in organisational systems

• The existence of organisation is based on (rules
  for) membership and on the operating by decisions
  from (earlier) decisions (with looking forward to
  decisions in the future).
• People have to manage many role-conflicts A
  personal identity grows by handling all these
  typically evolving conflicts and contradictions.
• A person is always more and other things than
  that what is currently being actualised in
  communication.

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The social construction of identity3b - identity
in organisational systems

• Organisations has to coordinate structures of
  social subsystems with the corresponding personal
  and interactional attributes. Organisations (not
  interaction systems, not social subsystems) are
  addressable like persons and concentrate all
  different communications to decisions.
• In communication with organisations one has to
  play a role with respect to ...
• a) the generalised, binary structured social
  subsystems,
• b) the concrete aspects (decisions) given from
  the previous communication.

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A functional perspective on Identity Management
Applications

• Statement 1 The take-off in using applications
  which support the management of identities should
  not be expected for managing interaction systems,
  but for organisational systems, especially for
  handling the user-organisation relation. These
  communications are well-formed and addressable.
• Statement 2 An integrated all-purpose Identity
  Management Application should offer schemes
  (better workflows) for the four main social
  systems and organisations economy, politics,
  law, and science (in concrete workflows for
  clients, citizens, subjects and employees). It
  also should provide a history function to tie in
  communication with previous communication to make
  them specific.

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Industrialisation of communication and social
identities

• When every socially relevant communication is
  standardised and mechanised and every social
  relevant role and partial identity is explicit,
  then one could say that the project of
  industrialisation is at the end. This could be in
  a socio-psychological perspective the main result
  of using an Identity Management System.
• What are the implications if we are at the
  beginning of this ending?