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The individual is seen as always ,becoming’; the achievement
of personal identity is an ongoing process. Whatever the original
choice of identity, a crowning identity of ’important’ man∕woman
may be arrived at by a process of recognition by others of out-
standing qualities.
The prestige of the ’important men* clearly comes through their
being chosen out, their qualities of leadership recognized. Thus,
some prestigious identities are bestowed by the group.
The continuity of leadership in the group is secured by the
selecting out of young men who have proved worthy of trust. They
are ’indoctrinated’ through an educative process, a learning from
the example and deliberations of the important men in whose company
they are almost always to be found, and through a reflecting back of
the community’s expectations. Thus, there is an education towards
identity - the identity of the mature person of the group, the identity
of leadership. ,
.In Berger’s words, everyone ’’knows” as a’’matter of course" (Berger
19ZI:96) that there are particular men and women chosen out for
responsibility. This identity is internalized over a long period.
⅞
There is a subtle mixing of achieved and bestowed identity through
a dialectic taking place between the two, both these aspects of
identity resting on ascribed identity.
15.4 Adopted identity
It has been pointed outɪ that those not having an identity
ascribed by inheritance may also be incorporated into the group.
Examples are white men such as McLeod, or children who have kin in
the group but who have spent their early years in a European Iife-
this identity is an adopted one. Once adopted
the same processes of locating individuals within the community apply
as to those for whom identity is inherited.
