OCR A Level Sociology - support presentation for Lesson Element (Identity and hybrid identity)

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A Level SociologyIdentity and hybrid identity
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Objectives

• To understand what is meant by identity and group
  identity.
• To understand that identity is made up of many
  different parts, some of which are ascribed and
  some of which are achieved.
• To begin to understand theoretical perspectives
  on identity, structure and agency.
• To explore the relationship between identity and
  culture.
• To understand what is meant by hybrid identity
  and explore the relevance of hybrid identity in
  the context of postmodern society.

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Task 1 Defining Identity
In small groups, discuss the following questions
1. What do you think is meant by the word
identity?
2. What influences a persons identity?
3. How is identity related to culture?
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Definition of identity
How we see ourselves and how others see us
There are two types of identity
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Task 2 What factors shape a person's identity?
Location
Sexuality
Nationality
Ethnicity
Identity
Class
Gender
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Fill this in to reflect your own identity
My identity
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Task 3 Types of identity
Using the worksheet, work out which type of
identity goes under which subheading.
Write the correct answer in the appropriate box.
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Task 4 How does a person acquire an identity?
There some parts of our identity which are given
or ascribed without any choice.
Other parts of a persons identity are chosen or
achieved.
Look again at the diagram on the previous slides
and decide which parts of your identity are
ascribed and which are achieved.
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Ascribed or achieved identity?

• Achieved
• Social status position
• Religious beliefs
• Work role
• Relationship status
• Family role
• Belonging to a particular subculture
• The goods that you buy

• Ascribed
• Nationality
• Gender/sex
• Ethnicity
• Social class
• Location
• Sexuality?
• First language

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Stretch and challenge

• The column of ascribed identity factors are
  examples of what people may be ascribed at birth.
• In small groups discuss how a person might change
  these given identity characteristics
• What problems might a person face when trying to
  change their identity?

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Task 5 Sociological theoretical perspectives on
identity
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Marxist views on identity

• Marxists believe that society is made up of two
  main social classes
• These are two social groups who have different
  relationships to the economy
• The WORKING CLASS who are paid and controlled by
  the
• The MIDDLE CLASS who control the economy and have
  the power to exploit the working class and
  extract profit from their work
• For Marx, your social class was the single most
  important part of a persons identity

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Evaluation of Marxist views on identity

• Is social class as important today as when Marx
  wrote during the 1800s?
• Do you know which social class you belong to?
• Does your social class remain fixed throughout
  life or is there the opportunity for social
  mobility (in other words to increase or decrease
  your position)?

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Evaluation of Marxist views on identity

• Class is still an important part of explaining
  why, for example some (the middle class) do so
  well at school
• Society remains incredibly unequal so class might
  still be useful in explaining these inequalities
• Are other parts of a persons identity more
  relevant and important today?

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Neo Marxist views on identity

• Updated Marxist views
• Class is important in shaping identity still, but
  individuals have more say in shaping their
  identity today
• Subcultures, for example allow people to reject
  or rebel against their position and assert new
  forms of group identity
• For example, youth subcultures develop an
  identity which allows them to challenge dominant
  ideas about identity

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Postmodernist views on identity

• In the past, or the modern era, according to
  postmodernists, identity was stable and
  relatively straight forward. Peoples identity
  was based on social class, gender and nationality
  for example.
• Today however, in postmodern society,
  postmodernists argue that identity is far more
  complex and negotiated on an individual level.
• Identity can be based on a whole range of complex
  factors such as ethnicity, sexuality, consumption
  and lifestyle choices.

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Characteristics of identity

• Postmodern society
• 1980s now
• Complex
• Fragmented
• Fluid
• Negotiated
• Shaped by the media
• Multiple identities depending on the context
• Global identity
• Individual identity over group identity

• Modern era
• 1950s-1980s
• Stable
• Solid
• Widely shared group identity
• Class
• Nationality

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What is the relationship between culture and
identity?

• Culture refers to the way of life of a group of
  people
• Identity is the way we see ourselves and the way
  others see us
• Culture shapes and informs a persons identity
• Culture and identity change over time

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Task 5 What is hybrid identity?

• A new form of identity that emerges as a result
  of a combination of different types of identity
• Increasing forms of hybridity as identity becomes
  more complex and chosen
• Also linked to globalisation and the increasing
  influence of the mass media
• Add notes to your diagram to explain how hybrid
  identity has become a feature of postmodern
  society

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Postmodernism
Increasing population movement
Mass media
Hybrid identity
Globalisation
Agency
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Why do hybrid identities form?

• Where different forms of identity overlap in
  migrant populations and new forms of ethnicity
  emerge as a result
• Often this involves performance (enacting, in a
  visible way) of particular cultural practices
• Hybrid identities represent a historical
  transformation in other words change of identity

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Why do hybrid identities form?

• These changes are unique because they are
  negotiated (the product of some kind of
  discussion)
• Hybrid identities often reflect power
  relationships
• Hybridity often suggest belonging to multiple
  worlds at the same time plural worlds.

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Examples of hybrid identities
Graffiti and musical fusions in Latin
America Garcia Canclini (1995) focuses on hybrid
identities created amongst young people, in
Latin America where there is rapid social
change. He refers to graffiti and musical
fusions, which reflect the fragmented nature of
identity.
Conduct some research on musical fusions/graffiti
styles in Latin America.
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Examples of hybrid identities
Hip-Hop in Japan Ian Condry (2006) argues that
just as companies sell products that inform
identities, individuals are also locally
producing new forms of music based on a mixture
of different cultural influences. It is also
suggestive of a far more active role for
individuals in selecting resources to shape their
identity.
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Examples of hybrid identities
Japans vibrant hip-hop scene, reveals how a
music and culture that originated halfway around
the world is appropriated and remade in Tokyo
clubs and recording studios. Condry discusses how
rappers manipulate the Japanese language to
achieve rhyme and rhythmic flow and how Japans
female rappers struggle to find a place in a
male-dominated genre. Condry pays particular
attention to the messages of MCs, considering how
their raps take on subjects including Japans
education system, its sex industry, teenage
bullying victims turned schoolyard murderers, and
even Americas handling of the war on terror.
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Task 6 Card sorting activity
Using the worksheet, link the correct term to
the correct image.
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