Sociological perspectives on identity formation: the culture–identity link and identity capital

National Identity and the Integration of the Children of Immigrants

“…However, after compulsory schooling, the emphasis falls on the labor market, economic prospects and personal skills. Moreover, the alternative routes which Côté (1996Côté ( , 2005 outlines, emerge clearly. Some of the youth will proceed seemingly automatically in their trajectory towards adult identity, which will then be an 'identity by default' -i.e., a conventional identity -while others will create for themselves their own way of being, an elective identity that adjusts to their own qualities and the opportunities that present themselves.…”

“…In fact, however, these doubts disappear when the questions focus on negotiations of identity, because these latter provide us with the contexts in which identity is experienced, thus allowing us to gauge the weight which these experiences have in the different behavioral sequences. Together with the inspiration provided by Côté (1996Côté ( , 2005, we can qualify these insights by adapting them to the different types of social context and situation of personal development in which the negotiations of identity take place.…”

“…We shall first consider Côté's (1996) approach to identity questions before reviewing a summary of the findings from a qualitative study conducted in Madrid in 2011 on the integration of secondgeneration residents, in which this attempt to gain greater precision in the enquiry into the behavioral and integration effects of asserting a national identity is put into practice. 4 We have also chosen to review this issue through a qualitative study, because the process of collecting information involved in qualitative methodology itself not only locates the references to national identity that respondents attribute to themselves in their different contexts but goes beyond this, opening up a range of avenues to explore as regards the ways in which national identities emerge, twist or reshape in different ways, depending on the informants.…”

“…To consider identity in terms of negotiation is just one step from seeing identity as a value which is negotiated, either downwards -whence the subjects marked by this identity are then rejected -or upwards, in those contexts in which it is privileged by the social majority. This notion of identity as a value has been developed in methodological terms by Côté (1996), who describes it as identity capital in the sense ascribed to this concept by Bourdieu (1977): that is, as a non-monetary resource that we exhibit, defend or hide in order to optimize how we present ourselves when we relate to others (displaying, for instance, professional certificates or exhibiting supposed links to prestigious institutions or families, or as other less tangible resources such as the ability to read situations in which we can place ourselves in the most advantageous manner). Côté (1996) is thus persuaded -and convincingly shows -that the possession by individuals of more or less valuable signs of his or her identity and of some ability to deal with references to it, has become particularly important in today's society.…”

Experiences of youth who transition to adulthood out of care: Developing a theoretical framework

“…In the identity capital model, it specifically refers to identifying as an adult or with a sense of adulthood (Côté, 1997(Côté, , 2002Schwartz, 2007). The development of identity occurs on multiple levels: internally, in the formation of a consistent sense of self and view of the world (Côté, 1996;Marcia, 1980), and externally, marked by behaviors and taking on roles that help to shape others' view of the self (Côté, 1996).…”