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(Accepted for publication 5 August 2017)
When we refer to identity, we have in mind its three levels: gender identity, generational identity and ethnocultural identity. In this era of globalisation, we wonder whether this concept is still important or to what extent it changes its dimensions. Psychoanalysis approaches the issue of identity mostly from a psychopathological perspective when it deals with personality disorders such as borderline states or psychoses.
As the articles of the present issue will reveal, the concept of identity is not only related to personal identity, to the sense of identity which emerges along with the development of one's personality, but it also covers social, professional, national identity. All these aspects are connected with the ethnocultural origin and are formed starting from the transgenerational inheritance materialised in what we call tradition.
The identity of an individual is formed in relation with the Other by distinguishing oneself from him/her. In a time which brings forth traditional options and beliefs in relation to new directions of redefining social