Social Identity

Question 1

Mechanical Solidarity

Answer 1

Identity rooted in wider group

Traditional society

Question 2

Organic Solidarity

Answer 2

The individual can shape their own identity

Modern society

Question 3

Goffman

Answer 3

Humans are social actors
We act in order to present a certain image

the private & the public

Question 4

Foucault

Answer 4

We are all forced to act according to social norms or we are punished or considered mentally ill

‘’…if you are not like everybody else, then you are abnormal, if you are abnormal, then you are sick. These three categories, not being like everybody else, not being normal and being sick are in fact very different but have been reduced to the same thing”

structure & agency

Question 5

Veblen

Answer 5

In post modern society identity is constructed by CONSUMERISM

Capitalism = mass production
I shop therefore I am
We define ourselves by our purchases

• social order - capitalism*
• unintended consequences - destruction of our environment? anxiety? less likely to enact social change because too busy staring at Instagram?*

Question 6

Key Issues around Identity & Why do sociologists study it?

Answer 6

1) Agency & Media
Identity often still constrained by culture/gender/ethnicity - Is our identity dictated by the media? (e.g. moral panics & folk devils)

2) Identity causes intrapersonal problems in postmodernity - anxiety, bullying, depression. Perhaps sociological theory can fuel empirical evidence to improve quality of life