This may not correspond to what is held up as a group's identity. When people evoke identity, they are less concerned with the totality of social values than with a primary or core set of values that are assumed to transcend social divisions. Such core values are often based on religion, language, race, colour or an assumed common culture. It is not surprising, therefore, that identity issues are all too often embedded in emotions. The relationship between identity and social integration is ambiguous.
Identity can promote as well as negate integration.
All societies need a certain level of cohesion for the maintenance of public order and governmental legitimacy. Apart from policies of economic growth, redistribution and welfare which may influence patterns of social integration, states often rely on symbols, myths and shared beliefs to promote a sense of oneness among their diverse citizens. But most states find it difficult to monopolize or dominate the discourse of identity. They are challenged by groups, sometimes of an ethnic, racial, religious, class or gender nature, which have their own alternative notions of integration, solidarity and development. Social groups may also compete among themselves in the definition of their respective identities and in their attempts to impose their visions of integration and development on society.