Identity, Reference and Social Actions

Related to the work I am doing, I am pondering how the concepts of identity and reference tie to one another.

So my starting thesis is this: the whole point of any identity mangement system is to account for individuals (we're talking people identity management systems) by having the best and most reliable reference to this individual as possible - that is, their identity. In 99% of the cases, identity is the default reference, because it reflects how we relate to other individuals, how we function in society and how we build our institutions.

This line of thought is reminding me of Max Weber's concepts of social action, and social relation.

Some Weber definitions courtesy of http://www.wikipedia.org

Social action - refers to any action that takes into account actions and reactions of other individuals and is modified based on those events.

Social relation - refers to a multitude of social interactions, regulated by social norms

I believe that the basis of any social action or social relation requires a reliable reference - the indentity of the individual.


So my thinking goes like this -

1. The systems that we are trying to build, exist to enable social relations and facilitate social actions. If these systems are legal (we can't always assume so) they are backed up by a mandate.

2. The basis of any stable social relation or any effective social action is a stable reference. Since we are dealing with individuals, the identity of this individual is this most stable reference.

3. Hence, any system that we are trying to build dealing with social relations and social actions, to be most effective, must have identity at its core.

I'll explore this topic in subsequent postings

That's it for today.