Ricerc@Sapienza

The development of personal and social identity is crucial in adolescence. On the one hand, adolescents face the task of forming and consolidating their personal identity in multiple domains, with educational and interpersonal domains particularly salient. On the other hand, they enlarge their social horizon and increasingly define themselves as members of multiple peer groups, such as groups of classmates and friends met outside school. There is however a lack of integrative research on the interplay among and between personal and social identity processes.

The paper aims at offering an analysis of the development of feminist thought
(mainly in Europe and North America) looked through the notion of identity, in its
personal and political uses. The leading idea presented is that this analysis may offer
interesting considerations leading to a weakened understanding of this notion.