Dual Identity

Today's society has evolved a

lot since the 18th century. While social classes that divided people back then (bourgeoisie, noble ...) have disappeared, people nowadays do not live in a perfect classless society. Some persons integrate their environment, while others are left aside and are subject to social marginalization. Stereotypes exist so everyone can think his way is the right way. By refusing and excluding others, we are convincing ourselves that it's simply because of them, because what they believe in isn't good enough. To define and constitute the self, we have to devalue the self's opposite. Every culture aspect is divided, there's the good and the bad. This differentiation has been used in social sciences to understand the processes by which societies and groups exclude 'Others', those who do not fit into their society.

This otherness can be caused by several factors, especially by the issue of dual belonging. More and more, frontiers are dissolving with globalization. People are taking advantage of this phenomenon, and for multiple reasons, are leaving their home country to live abroad. Once in this foreign country, they are forced to adapt their home culture with the local one, in order to fit in the new society, and become an active member. With time, there is going to be a certain Identity clash. These people will then be holders of two different cultures, two separate definitions of their single identity.

This cultural mixture is a challenge every person with an Identity conflict goes through. Such persons feel that they belong neither here, nor there, that there's no more one mother land. For example, a Lebanese living in France would be labeled as being a stranger by French people, and when he's in Lebanon, he would be called "the French". This is because people can't conceive the fact that someone can mix culture, and forge his own: this Franco-Lebanese person could take the Lebanese Arab warmth and the French openness for instance, but he still would be neither a pure Lebanese, nor a good French. This melting of cultures can, in society, be a major factor for marginalization. People with a double identity can be seen as traitors, strangers, intruders...and therefore they could be subject to a social rejection.

But "the others" are not only foreigners who are stuck between two belongings: hierarchization sort of classifies people, and some persons from the same cultural background can be marginalized because they simply do not "fit". Other than the moral aspects of the dual identity, such stuff as physical disabilities or abnormalities constitute a factor for otherness. People that are different or subject to diseases are subject to stereotyping, their individualities are replaced by a preconceived idea that is false, and that causes