From Remote Controls to Role Models Identification, Identity, Ideologies
What is 'identity'? -noun. -the fact of being who or what a person or thing is; -the condition of being the same with something described or asserted -the aspect of the self that is accessible and salient in a particular context and that interacts with that environment
Essentialist View -more of the first 2 definitions. -Identity=singular, stable essence of 'self -Categories of identity are natural, necessary, and universal
Anti-essentialist/Social constructivist view -identity = unstable & temporary effect of relations that define identities by marking differences -Recognizes there are differences between people -but which differences become important and visible, where the lines are drawn, and meanings of each category are socially constructed
Mediated Identities -'Mass media' = raw materials, symbolic language we use to construct/perform our identity -"cultural identity" -- how we are part of larger system of ideas (think of iceberg model) -"Market identity" - various mass media platforms address us in terms of a cultural identity -"Representation is not a matter of accuracy or distortion...identities are produced and taken up in and through the practices of representation"
Historicizing "Othering" -other cultures we meet as we expand are there for settlers at time to conquer & colonize -Centuries of Western Empires -"us" and "them" -establishing difference works to maintain power "...for a man represents both the positive and the neutral, as indicated by the common use of man to designate human beings in general; whereas woman represents only the negative, defined by limiting criteria, without reciprocity.'
Historicizing Representation -American 'mass media' and nation-building -early American media = assimilation function for white ethnic immigrants -normalizing middle-class whiteness as 'default' identity
Process of 'Othering' -repeating codes of who belongs and who does not
and internalize such an address -in doing so, we take up an identity not necessarily of our own making but what is offered to us
-source material for piecing together our identities, defining 'us' and 'them' -Availability/equality in materials offered? -it's hard to be what you don't see
-'Positive'vs. 'negative' stereotypes? -Burden of Representation -positive stereotypes are still othering...makes
Audiences, Markets, & Identity -commercial media, commercial culture -creating needs for consumer goods -ex: Gillette: "Shave Yourself"
-Post WWII "Consumer's Republic" -Bigger American economy = bigger share for everyone -prosperity = mass-produced goods sold to widest swath of Americans
-1970s: Major shift in commercial logic -sustainability of mass production & prosperity? -growth dependent on new & renewable consumer demand -more refined audience/market research tools
-Market segmentation (takes hold in 70s) -defining and exploiting new market segments -broadcasting to narrowcasting -marketers & media companies: best use of American consumers = "seeing them in different worlds"
Audience as Commodity -Upscale social segments -more disposable income -consumer lifestyles -luxuries & leisure time -Divisive result? -erases or others other type of categories/consumer identities that actually live a very different lifestyle -"downscale" social segments seen as liabilities