Words as Vectors of the Construction of Identity: The Example of Young Graduates in a Situation of Overeducation

Identity is a complex system regulated by emotional, cognitive and contextual dynamic processes. The ego-ecological perspective developed by Zavalloni and Louis-Guerin (2005, 2007) considers that the identity system of an individual is revealed by words which are so many representational units of the Self, of the Alter and Society. These experiential references imply that language is composed of emotionally charged words. The individual's identity words will be identified via the collection of different language elements using the Multistage Investigator of Social Identity (MISI). Identity words are considered as socio-dynamic "nuclei" of subjectivity, which combine both experiences and contexts of life and are related to representations of the self, others and the world. To illustrate the dynamics and the emotional anchoring of the identity words of a population of young overeducated graduates, we will present a case study, using the ego-ecological method and the MISI (Zavalloni, 2007), in order to identify identity words and their emotional anchoring.