In which ways can we express aspects of identity

1
In which ways can we express aspects of identity?
Clothing which clothes will we choose to
express our GenderEthnicityClassPost-modernism
Tattoos and piercings sign of the outcast?
Working class? Unfeminine? Post-modern or
tribal?
Language what is considered ladylike in terms
of language? If you want to be seen as male what
vocabulary should you use with mates?
Hair length, colour, texture Gender short
hair on women? On men? Ethnicity cover hair,
cut it? Rebellion? Conformity and fashion?
Personal Possessions how do women use their
mobile phones as security, as fashion
accessory? How do men listen to music?
2
Identity and Personal Possessions
3
What counts as personal possessions in Module 5?

• Portable communication devices,eg
• personal stereo
• mobile phone
• laptop computer

4
Ways of looking at Personal Possessions

• How technological possessions express changes to
  traditional lifestyles
• How technological possessions change
  communication styles and relationships between
  people in society
• How technological possessions express and help
  construct personal identity.

5
The Mobile Phone

• How many of you own a mobile phone?
• How did you choose your mobile phone?
• Would boys choose the same phones as girls? If
  not why?
• What criteria is important to which gender?
• What do you think your phone says about
• you?
• Is your mobile phone part of your whole image or
  personal identity?
• Does it fit in with your clothing choices,
  hairstyle etc?

6
Research by Rich Ling on Teenagers and Mobile
Phones

• Name of the research paper is It is in. It
  doesnt matter if you need it or not, just that
  you have it. Fashion and the domestication of
  the mobile telephone among teens in Norway
• Research looks at these key ideas
• Mobile phone not just a functional device - not
  just for communication
• It is part of the presentation of self
• It has a role as a type of fashion and also as a
  breach of fashion

7
Initial Facts

• 1997-99 Huge growth in ownership of mobiles
  amongst Norwegian teens e.g 13 year olds when
  from 6 to 51 ownership in 3 years.
• More boys than girls owned two phones - techno
  fetishism
• Ownership not to do with need but part of the
  individual's "personality kit"

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Fashion and Personal Identity

• Fashion used in personal display - use of
  clothing as expression of personal intention or
  status.
• Interaction between the individual and the viewer
  of the clothing or possession
• Wearer of clothing makes a statement which is
  interpreted. The interpretation may be true to
  the intention of the wearer or clouded by bias of
  the viewer.

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Theorists on Clothing and Identity

• Cunningham and Lab go on to note that clothing
  reflects ones personality or group identity,
  i.e. gender, role, occupation, economic status
  and political beliefs. They note that identities
  vis-à-vis cultural rites such as marriage,
  graduation etc. are also reflected in ones
  clothing.
• It is through the active use of various props,
  costumes and artifacts that one announces to the
  world around them who they are and how they wish
  to be seen.

10
Goffman and Simmel

• Goffman who has pointed to this in his analysis
  of front and back region performances. The back
  region is where one arranges their dress and the
  various props that will be used in a particular
  presentation of self.
• Key analysis of fashion done by Georg Simmel.
• Two social tendencies - to belong to a group and
  to be individual - fashion does both.
• Teens in particular, in searching for
• their identity need to be like their peers
• but mark their differences from others.
• Adolescent culture needs to mark
• boundaries between groups e.g punks,
• athletes, gender based groups.

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Function of fashion

• Displays, through fashion and possession, can be
  basis of inclusion and exclusion.
• Exclusion caused by being late to acquire a
  fashionable accessory. Fashion is a balancing
  between these two. If one is too far in front or
  too far behind the popular taste then they are
  out of fashion.
• Notion of anti fashion but that in itself is
  a reaction to fashion
• With most fashion items, the visual aspect is
  their main function. However, the mobile
  telephone also has an audible dimension that can
  be incorporated into ones display, indeed one
  need not even be physically present to indicate
  to others that they now own a mobile
  telephone.one can communicate and coordinate
  activities with others in the group

12
Fashion and phones

• Teenagers embarrassed by having a phone which is
  too large, too old fashioned or bought by a
  parent
• The taste and style of ones parents is not the
  same as that of the teens.
• Feelings about phones had little to do with the
  use of the phone - functionality.
• Elements that are particularly sought
• after, age and the size of the mobile
• telephone, the model number, the
• façade, particular colors, the functions
• of the handset and sometimes various
• accessories such as pouches etc.
• were common points of comment

13
Research Findings

• Comments from various interviews included the
  following
• Eskild (13) It is not fun to have the worst
  mobile telephone on the market you know.
• Inger (17) I have a real ugly Bosch telephone .
  . . its so big and awkward.
• Nina (18) It is . . . about how it looks and its
  size. Often it is the small cute mobile
  telephones that have the most status, at any rate
  that is how I experience it.
• Teens have developed notions of how one should
  display a mobile telephone. The best strategy
  according to these teens is to have the telephone
  in your pocket or in your bag. additional
  decoration are an aspect of display. One
  informant, Nina (18) said I think that at any
  rate that it looks dumb when people have a lot of
  sunflowers or dinosaurs on their telephone. That
  is really childish.

14
Importance of peer group acceptance (with
reference to mobile phones

• Beyond the simple labeling of others as dumb or
  tacky, the use of the language enforces a type of
  group identity and the boundary between the in
  and the out groups.
• Sullivan (1953) noted that the peer group is a
  necessary area for the development of the
  socialized adult. The peer group provides the
  adolescent with a relatively bounded situation
  where, none-the-less, they can exercise certain
  forms of control and also participate in group
  decision making among equals.
• Ones peers provide self-esteem, reciprocal
  self-disclosure, emotional support, advice and
  information. They provide the ability for one to
  be vulnerable among equals, sensitive to the
  needs of others and generally, perhaps for the
  first time, to acquire insight into social
  interaction outside of the family.

15
Importance of peer group acceptance (with
reference to mobile phones) continued

• These groups are largely protective of their
  members. They draw a symbolic boundary around
  themselves and resist the intrusion of others.
  This is seen in the development of what Fine
  calls idioculture and that may include a whole
  system of nicknames, jokes, styles of clothing,
  songs, artifacts etc (1987, 126). While there is
  support in the peer group, there is also teasing,
  gossip and infighting.
• The peer cultures influence is also somewhat
  selective. While it has profound influence on the
  selection of certain cultural items such as slang
  and clothing, parents and the adult world are
  influential in areas such as career choices
  (Brittian 1963).
• One of the activities of the peer group is the
  informal establishment of codes of dress
  consumption patterns and in their orientation
  (Hogan 1985, 2). It may well be that there is a
  greater need for identification than for
  distinction within the adolescent peer group.