SOC20004 Assignment Three: Essay Cing Naulak: 102501563 Topic: Identity
"In one postmodern world I constantly recreate myself according to my desires and the situations into which I am placed, and in the other I am the product of the discourses in which I am situated" (Craib 2001, p.6). The notion of an individual's identity can be changed throughout the lifespan depending on the surroundings, people we meet and our experiences. There are many factors that play apart in the formation of our individual identity or our social identities. This essay seeks to discuss the driving factors that determine your identity as an individual as well as explaining how your identity changes according to the different environments and relationships that you are placed. Furthermore, it will outline the challenges and difficulties of people being themselves in the society and how the rise of queer and feminist theories has helped people to accept their sexual identity in the society. The essay will do this by exploring Bourdieu's theory of the different types of capital that can shape who we are, followed by how the different capitals also make it difficult for people in the LGBT community to express their individuality in the society. Identity is a continuous process that can be transformed by many different factors such as social structures, environment and personal experiences. "We all have a number of social identities which organize our relationships to other individuals and groups within our social world (Craib 2001, p.4)". In Bourdieu's discussion of the different types of capitals, he demonstrates how the various types of capitals can influence us into becoming who we are. Bourdieu explores three types of capitals that play a major role in regards to identity formation. Bourdieu explores the context of capital that has the "capacity to produce profits and to reproduce itself in identical or expanded form, contains a tendency to persist in its being, is a force inscribed in the objectivity of things so that everything is not equally possible or impossible" (Bourdieu 1986, p.242). There are three types of capital that determine the individual's position and identity in the society. Economic capital 'which is immediately and directly convertible into money and may be institutionalized in the form of property rights' (Bourdieu 1986, p.243) and cultural capital refers to a person's embodied cultural disposition, as well as their cultural goods, such as furniture and clothing (Bourdieu 1986, p.244); and social
capital, which refers to the total value of a person's useful social connections (Bourdieu 1986, p243) First of all, economic capital affects an individual's identity as the choice of identity can be the most important economic decision people make weather it is done subconsciously or consciously. Individuals choose who they want to become depending on the limit of their economics' wellbeing. For example, an individual's choice of their identity expression may be determined by their monetary positions which further correlates to the cultural capital as discussed by Bourdieu (1986). The cultural capital of individual may determine their