Hence the concept of identity as it is now understood would not even rise in most traditional human societies. For much of the last ten thousand years of human history, the vast majority of people lived in settled agrarian communities. In such societies, social roles are both limited and fixed: a strict hierarchy is based on age and gender; everyone has the same occupation (farming or raising children and minding a household); one’s entire life is lived in the same village with a limited circle of friends and neighbors; one’s religion and beliefs are shared by all; and social mobility–moving away from the village, choosing a different occupation, or marrying someone not chosen by one’s parents–is virtually impossible. Such societies have neither pluralism, nor diversity, nor choice. Given this lack of choice , it did not make sense for an individual to sit around and brood over the question “Who am I, really ?” All of these characteristics that make up an inner self are fixed.
–Francis Fukuyama, Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment.