THE 19th CENTURY AND THE EVOLUTION OF IDENTITY: FROM ROMANTIC INDIVIDUALISM TO SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS

S. BIHUNOVA

doi:10.37203/kibit.2025.53(2).17

S. BIHUNOVA Rivne State University of the Humanities https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6860-6939

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37203/kibit.2025.53(2).17

Keywords: identity, the 19th century, self, alienation, selfhood

Abstract

The 19^th century represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of identity, as the Enlightenment’s rational, universal self gave way to complex, relational, and socially embedded conceptions. This article traces the transformation of identity across philosophy, literature, sociology, and emerging psychology. Romantic thinkers such as Rousseau and Wordsworth emphasized emotional authenticity, while nationalist and industrial theorists including Herder, Mazzini, Durkheim, Weber, and Simmel highlighted collective, class-based, and structural dimensions of selfhood. Gender theorists Wollstonecraft and Mill argued for socially constructed identities, prefiguring feminist and queer thought. Existentialist and psychological innovations by Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, James, Cooley, and Freud further explored the performative, divided, and unconscious aspects of the self. By synthesizing these intellectual currents, the article demonstrates how 19^th-century debates laid the groundwork for modern social and psychological theories of identity, highlighting the interplay between individual agency and social structure.

Author Biography

S. BIHUNOVA, Rivne State University of the Humanities

PhD (Psychol.), Associate Professor,

Doctoral Candidate

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