It is primarily through our identification with social groups that we define ourselves.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing a

A research conducted by behavioural scientists in 2012 studied males, females and children of up to 15 years of age in order to analyse their peculiar behaviour with the objective to associate each sample with the larger group that had similar interests with that of a sample. The study concluded that a person can be identified with a group with which he/she has gained exposure such as by born in that group or by being raised in that group. While there are no reservations that there are some exceptions to this study, still there are reasons to believe that in most cases a person can be defined with the social group he/she is associated with. The characteristics of a group such as adherence to the communism are often found in a person preaching and practising communism.

However true it may be the case that one large group can identify an individual, one of the many exceptions that argues that person behaves contradictory to the accepted beliefs or systems of the group is the esteemed personality. This person holds unconventional view because some people argue that this person has found the beliefs of the group infallible or has a desire to refute the penurious conditions of the group. A good example of this is Dr. Abdul Kalam Azad, a former President of India and notable scientist. He argued that though he was born in conventional Muslim family, the rituals or accepted path of Muslim religion could not restricted him to pursue liberal views about working for a nation that is foundational to Hindu religion. He defied all customs and developed the ballistic missiles for India and formally abjured the beliefs of constrictions of Muslims against Hindu. Therefore, person who had done exceptional contribution in any field are largely those that are not restricted to any one group.

Contrary to above paragraph, the first argument that supports the belief that an individual can be defined by the group into which he/she born is that he/she follows the career as defined by the group. The culture often sometime defines what career or a source of livelihood a person pursues depending on the traditions of that culture. This can be exemplified by the career of Ms. Lata Mangeshkar, who was born and brought-up in Bengal. She confirmed during the interview on news channel in May 2018 that culture of Bengal was such that everyone who wished to pursue music was required to learn three different languages and four different music instruments to be versatile. It was her that Bengal culture that urged her to sing in different languages and play many music instruments. Later, she asserted that versatile musical culture of Bengal had instilled in every singer who hailed from Bengal. Hence, career of a person especially in arts can be attributed to a large social group.

Further to the above paragraph, final argument that buttresses the narrative of identifying the individual from the social group is the inclination of a person towards food, dance, festival and language. It is widely believed that a child learns to speak a language that he/she captures from the surroundings and his/her food habits especially what he/she eats largely attributed to the group. For instance, a research conducted by Food Research Organization in 2016 studied people who were vegetarian and who were not vegetarian found their inclination towards being either vegetarian or non-vegetarian. The research concluded that a person who was born into Brahmin family, where non-vegetarian food is strictly prohibited, often developed the non-vegetarian food habits because he spent sufficient time of his life in Bihar, a region in Bihar where non-vegetarian food is mundane. Thus, food habits of a person largely attributed to a social group.

While concluding, as it can be seen from above paragraphs that although there are exceptions to the theory of identifying an individual through a group, in majority of the circumstances or where mundane things are considered such as career, interests, food habits and festivals, an individual is nothing but a sample of a large group. Therefore, in order to discern the individual, it is necessary to ascertain that one has to look for mundane things or exceptional cases.