An Introduction to
the Concept
of Identity
Martin Rost
Independent Centre of Privacy Protection (ICPP)
Germany, Kiel
martin.rost@datenschutzzentrum.de
2003-12-02
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FIDIS NoE - Kick-off meeting, Brussels, 2003-12-02
Overview
• ICPP
• The semantic field of the term identity:
– Constitution of identity through communication of:
different but same things, continuity in change, role-conflicts
• The three types of social / communicational constitution of
identity
– interaction system, organisational system, social subsystem
• The idea of “industrialisation of communication“ as basic
theory for discussing “technological supported identity
management“
– standardisation and mechanisation of all socially relevant
communications
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FIDIS NoE - Kick-off meeting, Brussels, 2003-12-02
ICPP - Independent Centre for Privacy Protection
• Regional authority (Germany, Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel)
– 36 employees (52% lawyers, 34% technicians,14% service)
• Functions and objectives:
– Mainly: Monitoring the actions of regional and local authorities and
also the actions of private organisations in relation to the “right to
informational self-determination of individuals“.
– Producing privacy protection. This could mean:
• Participation in political decisions and juridical proceedings
• Awarding seals of approvals and audits as part of an economical
perspective
• Participation in development and propagation of Privacy
Enhancing Technologies (like crypto-tools, identity management
technologies, P3P)
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FIDIS NoE - Kick-off meeting, Brussels, 2003-12-02
Semantic field of identity:
1 - the space (or better: ontology) version
• Statement: The different is the same and the same is the
different. Things are numerically different and/but
characterially equal.
• Identity in this meaning is the sameness of different things.
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FIDIS NoE - Kick-off meeting, Brussels, 2003-12-02
Semantic field of identity:
2 - the time version
• Statement: The different is the same over the years.
This is characterising everything which is living.
• Identity in this meaning is continuity in change.
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FIDIS NoE - Kick-off meeting, Brussels, 2003-12-02
Semantic field of identity:
3 - identification
• Numerically different but characterially equal and continuity
in change are the conditions for identification the relevant
aspects of a citizen or a customer.
– location and time of birth
– biometrical characteristics (sex, portrait, fingerprint)
– name
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FIDIS NoE - Kick-off meeting, Brussels, 2003-12-02
Semantic field of identity:
4 - the social-psychological version
• Statement: “The personal identity is constituted by handling
systemically inducted role-conflicts.“
• Identity (of a person (persona: “playing a role in a mask“)) is
the product of handled conflicts between the I and the
different expectations of the Me.
Health Care
Government
Work
Blood
Group
Tax
Status
Income
Birthday
Foreign
Languages
Alice
Partial
Identity
of Alice
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FIDIS NoE - Kick-off meeting, Brussels, 2003-12-02
Phone
Number
MasterCard
Age
Credit
Rating
Diary
Identity
of Alice
GoodConduct
Certificate
Name
Address
Birthplace
Legend:
Shopping
Insurance
Health
Status
Cellphone
Number
Interests
Telecommunication
Likes &
Dislikes
Payment
Diners Club
Driving
Licence
Travel
Boyfriend
Bob
Leisure
Partial Identities of Person “Alice”
Health Care
Government
Work
Blood
Group
Tax
Status
Insurance
Name
Address
Birthplace
Foreign
Languages
Alice
Identity
of Alice
Partial
Identity
of Alice
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Phone
Number
MasterCard
Age
Credit
Rating
Diary
Legend:
GoodConduct
Certificate
Health
Status
Income
Birthday
Shopping
Cellphone
Number
Interests
Telecommunication
Likes &
Dislikes
Payment
Diners Club
Driving
Licence
Travel
Boyfriend
Bob
Leisure
FIDIS NoE - Kick-off meeting, Brussels, 2003-12-02
The social constitution of identity
• Statement: Different types of identities of a person are
produced permanently through different types of
communications respectively social systems:
– interaction system
• based on presence of people
– organisational system
• based on membership and the communication of decisions
– social subsystem
• based on the communicational reachability by symbolically
generalised communication media
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FIDIS NoE - Kick-off meeting, Brussels, 2003-12-02
The social construction of identity
1 - identity in interaction systems
• Depends on presence and taking part on communication (like
speaking).
– congruence of identity: “I am who I am. “ (the way to speak, to
walk, the sound of the voice ...)
– authenticity: “I am who I claim I am.“ (the way to look like ...)
– identification: “Who are you? - But I am your old friend! ...“
– authentication: “Are you who you say you are?“
• Given social frames organise spontaneous interactions
by giving subjects roughly schematised (but not really
standardised) roles they have to play.
• Subjects trust each other (or they don’t) as subjects, but they
can’t trust the frames of interaction (friendship is not liable
under a contract).
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FIDIS NoE - Kick-off meeting, Brussels, 2003-12-02
The social construction of identity
2a - identity in social subsystems
• There are four main social subsystems in the globalised
world, which operate as closed self-organised systems
(Reference: Talcott Parsons / Niklas Luhmann):
–
–
–
–
economical system,
political system,
law system,
scientific system.
• These systems operate on the base of different “symbolically
generalised communication media“:
–
–
–
–
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payment / not-payment, with prices as condition,
political power / not power, with programs as condition,
right / not right, with laws as condition,
true / not true, with theory and methods as condition.
FIDIS NoE - Kick-off meeting, Brussels, 2003-12-02
The social construction of identity
2b - identity in social subsystems
• Communications inducted by social subsystems are
schematical (binary formed). According to these generalised
and well-formed communications everyone has to play a
generalised role as a
– customer or client (economical system)
and
– citizen or townsman (political / law system)
and
– subject, individual, person, patient, creature (scientific system)
and
– employee (organisational systems).
• Without access to money, elections, laws, and theories
one cannot cultivate a complex identity in modern society.
• Persons could trust in proceedings and communication
media but had not in (normally unknown) persons.
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The social construction of identity
3a - identity in organisational systems
• The existence of organisation is based on (rules for)
membership and on the operating by decisions from (earlier)
decisions (with looking forward to decisions in the future).
• People have to manage many role-conflicts: A personal
identity grows by handling all these typically evolving
conflicts and contradictions.
• A person is always more and other things than that what is
currently being actualised in communication.
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FIDIS NoE - Kick-off meeting, Brussels, 2003-12-02
The social construction of identity
3b - identity in organisational systems
• Organisations has to coordinate structures of social
subsystems with the corresponding personal and
interactional attributes. Organisations (not interaction
systems, not social subsystems) are addressable like
persons and concentrate all different communications to
decisions.
• In communication with organisations one has to play a role
with respect to ...
– a) the generalised, binary structured social subsystems,
– b) the concrete aspects (decisions) given from the previous
communication.
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FIDIS NoE - Kick-off meeting, Brussels, 2003-12-02
A functional perspective on
Identity Management Applications
• Statement 1: The take-off in using applications which support
the management of identities should not be expected for
managing interaction systems, but for organisational
systems, especially for handling the user-organisation
relation. These communications are well-formed and
addressable.
• Statement 2: An integrated all-purpose Identity Management
Application should offer schemes (better: workflows) for the
four main social systems and organisations: economy,
politics, law, and science (in concrete: workflows for clients,
citizens, subjects and employees). It also should provide a
history function to tie in communication with previous
communication to make them specific.
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FIDIS NoE - Kick-off meeting, Brussels, 2003-12-02
Industrialisation of communication and
social identities
• When every socially relevant communication is standardised
and mechanised and every social relevant role and partial
identity is explicit, then one could say that the project of
industrialisation is at the end. This could be in a sociopsychological perspective the main result of using an Identity
Management System.
• What are the implications if we are at the beginning of this
ending?
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FIDIS NoE - Kick-off meeting, Brussels, 2003-12-02