Modernity assumes that individual identity is of a specific kind, which is determined by the following.

Choice and achievement

‘[M]odernity’ assumes that local ties and parochial perspectives give way to universal commitments and cosmopolitan attitudes; that the truths of utility, calculation, and science take precedence over those of the emotions, the sacred, and the non-rational; that the individual rather than the group be the primary unit of society and politics; that the associations in which men live and work be based on choice not birth; that mastery rather than fatalism orient their attitude toward the material and human environment; that identity be chosen and achieved, not ascribed and affirmed; that work be separated from family, residence, and community in bureaucratic organisation.

Modernity is a historical period characterized by the rise of individualism, reason, and secularism. During this period, there has been a shift in the way we think about identity, with a greater emphasis on individual choice and achievement. This is in contrast to traditional societies, where identity was more often determined by birth and position.

In modernity, individuals are seen as having the freedom to shape their own identities through their choices and actions. They are not simply defined by their family background, social class, or ethnicity. This emphasis on individual choice and achievement has been a driving force behind many of the social and political changes of the modern world.