Ambiguous social identity
Crisis of personal identity
Contemporary concerns such as bilingualism, religious education, homosexuality in the military, interracial adoption, politically correct body language, blasphemy, immigration, divorce or unmarried mothers reflect new challenges to identity. These correspond to tensions between libertarians concerned with individual rights, choice, freedom and enterprise, and cultural conservatives emphasizing group rights, traditional authority, family values and religion.
The old polarities between allegiances based on class solidarity and state planning, or those based on property rights, individual opportunity and markets, have now broken down. New divisions are centred on the ways in which people define their identity. People have a deep need to identity and belong which is unsatisfied by the traditional pattern of institutions and beliefs.