An exploratory analysis of the sense of identity in four divergent South African school contexts

Abstract

South African society is currently negotiating a new future. As a result, the sense of identity amongst all groups in South Africa may be undergoing change. This dissertation attempts to identify what type of sense of identity exists in pupils in four different school environments. These schools ranged from a racially integrated to an isolated and racially separate school. A review of the traditional literature on the self (or sense of identity), reveals that it does not allow for the possibility of change in a sense of identity, or the role that language and the social environment plays in the development of a sense of identity. As a result, Harrean and Sampsonian type thinking was used as the theoretical base of the research. Further, discourse analysis was the method of research used. Different schools were found to exhibit different senses of identity, and the implications of this are discussed.