THE ROLE OF INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION IN DEFINING PERSONAL IDENTITY IN THE POSTMODERN SOCIETY
THE ROLE OF INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION IN DEFINING PERSONAL IDENTITY IN THE POSTMODERN SOCIETY

Summary/Abstract: The article is focused on the effect of postmodern society on human and cultural identity and the role of intercultural education for defining personal identity. Nowadays the personal identity is caught in between localism and globalism, between nothing and something (G.Ritzer). The values which dominate our society are the postmodern values (which are presented in G. Lipovetsky`s opinion), hedonistic values, respect for differences, the cult of individual freedom and autonomy, free expression and personal affirmation. These postmodern values are a challenge for personal identity and education. Intercultural education is seen as a necessity and also as a solution to the problems of the contemporary world, where social skills, networking and cooperation, communication and the ability to adapt have become indispensable and help students define their identity. In order to observe how people define their personal identity nowadays, we initiated an observatory research on 200 people. The subjects were divided into two categories: the youth representing the postmodernist, globalized society (students aged between 18 and 22) and the adults, representing the traditional society (aged between 50 and 60). They were given questionnaires concerning the way they define or find themselves. The results of our research showed that the intercultural education has a strong impact on (re)defining personal identity in postmodern society.

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