> What is it about our culture (is it mostly a western culture thing?) that is so obsessed with the question of identity? There are a lot of people now who don

> What is it about our culture (is it mostly a western culture thing?) that is so obsessed with the question of identity? There are a lot of people now who don't have the traditional anchors that answered these questions for people. Religion has always been a big one - and shows how important group membership or not has always been, with often deadly consequences - but it's less important to many people today than in many times in the past in the west. Many people also no longer have a lot of the pure "I do these things because they are necessary for mine and others' survival" driving factors in our life. Most jobs, at an individual level, could be given up without much impact on everyone else. Often even the person who quit would still land in a safety net and still survive fairly easily. And a lot of these changes have a lot of benefits. It's good that you can fail at a job, it's good you can have more free time, it's good you don't have to belong to the same church or stay in the same place as everyone you group with. But then what do you replace it with, if you seek your own way? You have to answer that question yourself.