Lecture 4 - Identity

IDENTITY

- Phrenology

- Physiognomy

- Positivist Criminology – suggests that criminal tendencies are inherited

- Physiognomy legitimizing racism

Historical Phases

-       Pre modernity identity

-       Modern identity

-       Post modern Identity

Pre Modern: personal identity is stable – defined by long standing roles

Farm worker, soldier, factory worker,

Modern identity: society offers a wider range of roles, able to ‘choose’ identity – anxiety

Charles Baudelarie – The Painter of Modern Life – ‘flaneur’ (gentlemen stroller)

Thorstein Veblen – Theory of the Leisure Class

Georg Simmel – The Metropolis and Mental Life – Trickle down theory, emulation and distinction by fashion

Post Modern: Accept ‘fragmented’ self, identity is constructed.

‘Discourse Analysis’

identity is constructed out of the discourses culturally available to us.

Discourse – a set of recurring statements eg:

-       Age

-       Class

-       Gender

-       Nationality

-       Race/Ethnicity

-       Sexual orientation

Class

Bolton, Mass Observation/Humphrey Spender, Worktown project 1937

Martin Parr

Martin Parr, Ascot, 2003

Bauman, Identity - READ

Nationality

Martin Parr – Sedlescombe

Martin Parr – Think of Germany

Gender/Sexuality

Gillian Wearing, signs that say what you want them to say

Masquerade and the mask of femininity

Cindy Sherman, untitled film stills, 1977-80

Post modernity

Identity can be constructed through social experience

Erving Goffman The presentation of Self in Everyday Life LIBRARY

Zygmunt Bauman IDENTITY 2004