Publication
Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology
Volume
9
Page
643
Year
2008
Abstract
Legal scholarship has long concerned itself with race, gender, and other core identities. Economics, and law and economics, is now turning its attention to other dimensions of identity. What is identity? Identity is "a person's sense of self."' Identity has genetic, cultural and neural bases grounded in an evolutionary process.' Identity helps individuals make sense of themselves and provides a feeling of grounding or belonging. There are many potential identity dimensions, including gender, facial features, and height, as well as religion, ethnicity, social-group affiliation, sports-team loyalty, family, profession, artistic preferences, culinary preferences, and place of origin. The significance of different dimensions varies across individuals; some people derive a stronger sense of identity from their religion, others from their sports team fanship, others from their occupation, and so on.
Recommended Citation
Avner Ben-Ner and Claire Hill, Negative Dimensions of Identity: A Research Agenda for Law and Public Policy, 9 Minn. J.L. Sci. & Tech. 643 (2008), available at https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/faculty_articles/66.
