ALTERITY

Alterity is from the word alter - to make a thing different. Alterity is a term central to postmodern discussions of identity in which the self is given meaning in terms of an ‘other’. This other is posed or imagined in terms of difference.

Alterity then is a state of, or condition of, otherness. The term alterity is useful for thinking about how many peoples throughout history have been cast in the role of inferior and as the opposite of those who look down upon them.

Negative qualities are projected onto these ‘others’ and the imagined contrast with them strengthens the sense of one's own rightness and confirms one's sense of identity.

Identity and Alterity in Sociological Perspective, Frank Welz (Freiburg) Presented at JNU-Freiburg Sociology Workshop on "Culture and Society in the Era of Globalization", Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, zmk.uni-freiburg.de/Online_Texts/Welz_Identity.pdf

Abstract: Contrasting different approaches to identity the search is for a specific socio-logical concept that offers an alternative to an essentialist understanding of identity aswell as to the contradictory celebration of the Other. Whereas all things considered thelatter means a sanguine or pessimistic reification of group differences, the former viewhas become increasingly outdated: in an era of globalization the real experience ofalterity that is the experience of different identities (rather than identity in the singular)renders essentialist interpretations of identity obsolete.

(1) Firstly, the reasons are dis-cussed why the theoretical and practical discourse on the other and alterity (and theproblem of cultural recognition) is so topical in contemporary social and culturalsciences.

(2) Secondly, theories of identity (and the other) from phenomenology viasymbolic interactionism and systems theory to genetic structuralism are examined.Whereas the individual first-person subject under consideration is characteristic ofthe phenomenological theory, the attitudes of the Other are, by contrast, the origin foreach particular identity according to symbolic interactionism.On the other hand, adifference theory approach as systems theoryof Niklas Luhmann explodes the concep-tual framework of traditional approaches attempting to open up a perspective for Alterity. However, a structural-genetic approachattributed to Pierre Bourdieu and othersdoes not conceptualize identity as an immutable essence as well although indeed itpermits an inquiry into identity insisting on that its structures are not pre-given but constituted in practice.

(3) Finally, the aim is rethinking identity in sociological perspective arguing for atheoretical contribution to the current problematic of identity politics.Identity is multi-faceted. Contrasting different approaches to the former the search isfor a specific sociological concept that offers an alternative to an essentialist under-standing of identity as well as to the contradictory celebration of the Other. Whereasthe latter is currently wide spread in intellectual debates but ultimately means a sangui-ne or pessimistic reification of group differences, the former view has become increa-singly obsolete: in an era of globalization where the possibilities of experiencing alterityand therefore questioning identity has increased immeasurably. The question is why the theoretical discourse on the other and alterity as well as the practical discourse.

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