Civil identity - what is it? Definition and concept

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Every person is provided with freedom of choice, including regarding self-determination and identification. Personality is formed in a biological shell under the influence of society and the problems of society. The stability of the social system of the state depends on how much everyone evaluates their influence on the life of the people and the state. The formation of civic identity is a rather problematic moment in the stage of adolescent development. Young people cannot fully appreciate their role and their opinion in the life of the country. This is largely due to a banal lack of information or ways to present it. This article talks about what constitutes a national civic identity.

General information about the concept of civic identity

Civil identity formation is an integral part of the organization of power management, ensuring national security and defense. If the people canidentify itself, then such a country can rightfully be considered democratic.

Historically, the introduction of the concept of "citizenship" and the understanding of its residents is a unifying factor. It is believed that this helps to eliminate the split in society, unites various classes, strata and groups of the population. This causes the unity of all people, which, of course, contributes to stabilization. Regardless of who is who and how much money they have, everyone becomes equal. This makes it possible to develop a unified legal framework and apparatus for protecting the interests of citizens. The government of the country where the foundations of civic identity are laid can shape the political order.

Civil education for schoolchildren of different ages

The civic identity of younger schoolchildren and their older comrades is now becoming a topic of discussion in pedagogical, psychological and scientific circles. After all, a person should be aware of himself as a person from a very young age.

Civil education implies the following points:

• impact on the child's psyche;
• feeding knowledge of a certain kind;
• inculcating a sense of love and respect for the Motherland;
• awakening interest in the history of the country and their ancestors;
• laying the foundations of jurisprudence;
• formation of the concept of responsibility for deeds, for the decisions made, the fate of the state;
• formation of active citizenship.

Embedded Knowledge

Ultimately, it is understood that the formation of a civilidentity of the student should lay in it certain foundations. He must have information about his rights and obligations, the state structure and the possibility of choice.

A child influenced by parents, kindergarten and school must have an idea of values, respect the rights and choices of other people, be tolerant. In the process of development, children should develop critical thinking, the ability to adequately perceive the political situation. A person must have a desire to express his opinion or indignation, he must want to participate in public and political life. Education of civic identity is about raising a generation living in accordance with democratic values.

Defining the concept of civic identity

There are many interpretations of the concept of civic identity. Indeed, it can characterize completely different things and has a different meaning. But first of all, civic identity is a person's self-determination of his belonging to a particular group. He must be clearly aware of the fact of choice.

In each state, this concept is assigned a different meaning. Civic identity is a person's feeling of himself as an integral part, an element of an organized force. And it is she who should protect him from any negative manifestations of society.

Dual definition of term

Conceptcivic identity can be characterized from two positions. The first says that this definition expresses the belonging of a person to a certain people of a particular state. The second position, in contrast to the previous one, states that the initiation does not go to a particular society, but to the totality of people as a whole. This theory confirms that civilized man considers himself a collective subject.

Indeed, the first position identifies two definitions and says that civic identity is citizenship. But it is not enough to be a part of the country according to the passport, the very attitude towards the state and the feeling of being a part of it is important. The basis of a comprehensive opinion should be an understanding of the possibility of free choice and self-identification. The people, in which there are foundations of a civil culture of the individual, with the help of the sphere of education, certain qualities are laid, such as patriotism, morality and tolerance.

Factors of shaping civic identity

The existence of certain aspects affects the formation of public consciousness. In order for every resident of the country to be able to identify his civic position, a number of factors must be present:

• single story;
• shared cultural values;
• no language barriers;
• unifying emotional states;
• submission of information by socialization institutions;

The history of the theory of citizenship education

Civic identity issomething that worried people in ancient times. As a direction in the field of education, it was formed quite a long time ago, so that the problems were studied not only by modern thinkers. After analyzing the opinions of historians and philosophers, we can conclude that the foundations of self-determination in this regard were laid back in ancient civilization. As the perception of this concept in society developed, so it itself became more educated and aware in this regard. This gives the right to assert that the nature of social relations is determined by the degree of implementation of the philosophy of civic education.

The formation of students' civic identity was an important part of education in ancient Greece. It was the people from these lands who left behind the greatest works and the richest heritage of philosophical thought in relation to science and pedagogy. For example, Plato expresses in his writings the importance of education for society and civil self-determination. This is evidenced by the titles of his numerous works on education.

A follower of Plato, Aristotle, considered the cultivation of a worthy generation with the right thoughts and ideas an integral part of the successful government of the country. In his opinion, the education of young people is the key to the preservation of the state system. He spoke about the need to start influencing the minds of children at the age of seven. Aristotle argued that the level of development and awareness should reach such a degree that a person is able torule over their own state.

Philosophy of the Middle Ages

Among the enlighteners of the eighteenth century, it was believed that the formation of a national civic identity is impossible without a sufficient level of education. For stability in society, a certain percentage of such people was necessary. This opinion was held by the greatest minds of their time - Rousseau, Diderot, Pestalozzi, Helvetius. In the face of the Russian scientific community, K. D. Ushinsky leaned towards this idea.

All these people argued that the society can fully experience its power and develop skills only if everyone enjoys the right to education. The opportunity to get an education should be provided by the state, because it is in the interests of the country.

Nineteenth century achievements

A new understanding of civic identity was introduced by thinkers of the nineteenth century. In their opinion, the injustice of the division of society into classes and estates hinders the unity of the people and a stable understanding of the rights of the individual. This is what Owen, Fourier, Marx and Engels asserted in the West in their utopian systems. Russian democrats, whose representatives were Chernyshevsky, Belinsky and Dobrolyubov, only supported this idea.

All their theoretical developments are permeated with a single line. According to them, the property status, knowledge and honors in the process of social production are unimportant. All people are equal in this sense.

The idea of the American philosopher Dewey

The idea of this American philosopher somewhat refreshed the conceptscivil identity. It is the newest direction in the field of this education. According to his works, we can conclude that the main idea is to form a democratic society. An opinion should not be imposed on a person.

Dewey promoted the idea of personality development. He argued that providing the opportunity for self-expression is a much more effective method than pressure from outside. That is, you need to grow above yourself, relying not on the statements and texts of wise, but strangers, but only on your own experience. Thus, the only way to determine your position is through trial and error.

Dewey talked about the fact that in children it is necessary to develop not individual abilities and skills, but to allow them to achieve, albeit small, but meaningful goals for them. The school should prepare the child for adulthood not only mentally, but also morally. It must be hardened, formed and independent. That is, it is necessary to educate young citizens not according to static material written in textbooks, but to try to modernize it for the current period of time and keep up with the constantly evolving world.

Soviet ideology

Modern Russian civic identity is largely determined precisely by the period of the USSR. This issue was given special attention by the standards of pedagogical science, such as Sukhomlinsky, Makarenko, Blonsky, Shatsky and Pinkevich. All their works describe methods of education, organization of collective activity. But these people, like their work, are united by a universala call for the formation in children of a sense of love and respect for the Motherland, family, history of ancestors and all people.

Through various types of art, the basics of humanity and citizenship must be conveyed to the child. Moral values, according to these famous teachers, are instilled in people at a fairly young age. The whole life of a person and his attitude to the world and others depend on how much in childhood he learned such concepts as good and evil.

Modern Vision

At the moment, the issue of civic identity is the subject of the work of many philosophers, psychologists and educators, such as Sokolov and Yamburg. Most experts are of the opinion that the system of education of this concept in modern children is no good. The child should not be an "empty vessel" that adults fill at their own discretion. He must take an active part in the learning process. Thus, he develops his own vision and understanding of what is happening.

The relationship between the student and the teacher should be humane, they should feel on equal terms. Only when the child himself is fully engaged and interested in his own development and self-knowledge, education will make sense. If children manage learning from their own positions, then this will become the basis for moral development. One of the aspects of modern education is the cultivation of a responsible citizen from a young age.