Identity dimension of global transformation: The construction of the ?other?

The last quarter of the twentieth century, has been the scene of deep-seated economic, social, political and cultural transformations all over the world, as a result of developments in science, technology, communication and so forth. As the more free flow of goods, services, capital and labour; the significance of frontiers faded away, while they become more permeable. This process, which is also called as ?globalization?, brings together the debates about the corrosion and the disintegration of the nation-state, under the influence of the rise of supra-national political and economic bodies. On the other hand, by emphasizing particularity against universality, postmodernism ?which also forms the philosophical basis of globalization?, brings into question the identities such as class and nation, which are the results of homogeneity championed by modernity.Although the phenomenon of identity is as old as humanity, its obvious rise as a concept in the sphere of social sciences is quite new. The change of order in the economic life must be considered in the rise of the problem of ?identity?, as it must be in all other fields. Identity becomes problematized as a result and product of the processes of social change; because social transformations dislocate all established identities ?either social or individual? and eradicate them. By becoming problematized with the transition from the traditional social structure to the modern society, identity displays a dismantled/fragmented appearance today, as a result of the celebration of difference and pluralism under the influence of postmodern discourse and globalization. The fast and unprecedented socio-economic transformations which are the characteristics of our age and identity politics that are replacing totalizing / universal politics; make the individuals to re-define their identities, or in other words the ?self? and the ?other?. In this process the individual re-constructs him or her ?self? in the mirror of the ?other? in a defensive manner.