Constructing Identites Flashcards
Rites of passage
the term coined in 1908 by Arnold van Gennep to refer to the category of rituals that accompany changes in status such as the transition from boyhood to manhood, living to dead, or student to graduate.
Liminality
Victor Turner elaborated on van Gennep’s ideas of liminality, describing it as a state of “betwixt and between,” neither here not there, it is a transitional period.
Dramaturgy
Sometimes the individual will act in a thoroughly calculating manner, expressing himself in a given way solely in order to give the kind of impression to others that is likely to evoke from them a specific response he is concerned to obtain. Sometimes the individual will be calculating in his activity but be relatively unaware that this is the case
Principle of reciprocity
According to Marcel Mauss, gift giving involves reciprocity, the idea is that the exchange of gifts creates a feeling of obligation, in that the gift must be repaid
Kula ring
A system of inter-island gift exchange documented by anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski in the Trobriand Islands. It involves the exchange of shell necklaces and armbands. According to Malinowski, the kula ring serves, among other things, to create alliances and social ties among individuals living on different islands.”
Potlatch
A celebration usually involving elaborate feasting and the redistribution of gifts, found among many indigenous Northwest Coast groups, such as the Tsimshain The potlatch is a means of creating a new identity or reinforcing social status within a group
Commodities
Traditionally, commodities are items that involve a transfer of values and a counter-transfer. A sells something to B, and the transaction is finished. As in typical capitalist-market-exchange systems, a long-standing personal relationship between buyer and seller is not established
Social Identity
the view that people have of their own and others’ positions in society
Identity
Identities can be plural
Individual vs shared identities
Examples:
Canadian identity
U of S identity
Imagined Community
Refers to the face that even in the absence of face-to-face interactions, a sense of community (e.g. nationalism) is culturally constructed by forces such as the mass media
Individualism
Importance of self as compared to group
Egocentric self
a view of the self that defines each person as a replica of all humanity capable of acting independently from others
Egocentric
Motivation and drive are internal
Individual is a distinct whole
Autonomous and free-acting beings
Responsible for own identity
Social contract between individuals
Possess intrinsic qualities (generosity, hard-working etc)
Self-reliance
Freedom of choice
Sociocentric self
a context-dependent view of self,
Sociocentric
No intrinsic self or intrinsic qualities
