Social work learning practice

3 How do you define yourself?

There are many important aspects to life that can shape an identity, including class, religion, gender, sexuality and ethnicity. In this audio clip, Stephen Rashid talks to a group of recently qualified social workers about some of these complex issues.

Activity 3

Listen to the clip and make a list of the words that the four speakers have used to describe their sense of identity.

Once you have listened to the clip, think about how you might define yourself. Make a list of words which you would use to define yourself. Then try to list them in order of importance. Specify whether they draw on your work, your leisure activities (the things you do), your personal characteristics, or a combination of the three.

When you are happy with your list, repeat the exercise with someone you know well.

Finally, compare the two lists.

This activity will show you how complex everyone's identity can be. It should also warn of the dangers of making assumptions about other people's identities.

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence