Our Identity lecture took part last week, following on from Subcultures and this idea that we are able to construct who we are to a certain degree. Identity focused on the many theories surrounding what allows us to become the person that we show to the world and how these theories came with consequences - Physiognomy for example.
The theories of identity are as follows: Essentialism (the traditional approach that dictates who we are based on certain factors), Anti-Essentialism (based on a more modern idea of identity, some degree of choice), Physiognomy (based on appearance/race/ethnicity), and lastly Phrenology (a study of the shape/size of brain giving an indication as to said person's mental capabilities and personality traits).
This idea of pre-modern identity stems largely from "secure identity" - institutions such as your workplace, the church, the state, government, monarchy, and even who you married all secured your identity as a definite portrait of who you were in society. Class and social standing all played a huge role in what people saw you as.
Modern identity, cropping up around the 19th and early 20th centuries, has the issue of materialism and fashion brought in. It seems to me that the more objects you owned (be it physical, very "real" objects that you can pick up, or the objectification of a woman around your arm), you were seen to be better than those that managed without. The Victorian era was very much about the items you owned in your house, and the competition over who could own the best technology and most interesting adornments was immense.
There was also a struggle for fashion too. As the rich and wealthy strolled about in lavish clothes of silk and cotton, the poorer percentage of the population were finding new innovative ways to keep up with the trends by mass replicating the fashions of the once seen "untouchable" higher classes. This stems back to subcultures as when a trend starts off being exclusive to a certain group of people, you can guarantee that irony kicks in as the masses hijack this completely as it suddenly becomes mainstream - not so exclusive anymore! So, the act of copying other people's fashion came about roughly at this time. The rich had to constantly keep changing what they wore as to not be drowned out by the working classes. They needed to stand out! Gustave Caillebotte, and Edvard Munch both painted works that illustrate this in action.
Post modern identity came with the theory of discourse analysis, constructed by Michel Foucault. Identity is constructed out of the discourses culturally available to us. What is a discourse ?
‘… a set of recurring statements that define a particular cultural ‘object’ (e.g., madness, criminality, sexuality) and provide concepts and terms through which such an object can be studied and discussed.’ Cavallaro, (2001)
The possible discourses that have so far been identified are:
Age
Class
Gender
Class
Gender
Nationality
Race/ethnicity
Sexual orientation
Education
Income
Race/ethnicity
Sexual orientation
Education
Income
I'm sure there are possibly others that will spring up in the future, but where there is a means to judge people by, people shall be judged. In my opinion, everyone should be who they want to be without the fear of being classified or put into boxes with labels adhered to them. People are people, we are all the same, we all eat, breathe and defecate. We are all human.
"I think therefore I am." - Descartes (Discourse on Method - 1637)
