topic 5: identity, consumption & globalisation

Question 1

how important is work as a source of identity?

Answer 1

• type of occupation: important indicator of someone’s social class identity and their status
• money earned: influences status, the kind of consumer goods available and lifestyle
• work-related peer group influences & friendships: influence identity a person chooses to assert e.g group leader
• leisure activities: Parker (1971) suggested work can influence identity projected to others through 3 work/leisure patterns:
• opposition pattern - see leisure as a central life interest to compensate for & escape from physical & dangerous jobs
• neutrality pattern - see family and leisure (not work) as major life interests as jobs are boring & unfulfilling
• extension pattern - work is interesting & demanding so blurs with leisure time
• Gini (1998) argues work is not just about producing goods/services but helps to produce people
• Doherty (2009) study of different workforces and organisations: long term employment has been increasing in UK, part-time does not mean insecure, upskilling- overall level of qualification required for work has increased
• 2023 UK - 75% of population over 16 in employment

Question 2

lack of work as a stigmatised identity

Answer 2

• e.g through unemployment, disability or retirement
• may rip away part of adult life by undermining social security that work provides
• may lead to ‘anomie’ (Durkheim) - normlessness or sense of insecurity & uncertainty arising from rapid change/disruptions of normal routines of everyday social life
• the unemployed face a stigmatised identity (Goffman) through labelling as ‘benefit-scrounging’ dole (unemployment benefit) seekers

Question 3

declining significance of work as a source of identity

Answer 3

• ‘end of work’ thesis & postmodernists like Bauman suggest work has lost its once-central importance in people’s lives
• work is no longer the central axis of identity which underpins other identities
• consuming goods & lifestyle choices are now more significant

Question 4

consumption & identity: postmodernist approaches

Answer 4

• Bocock (2004) people’s consumer choices are important aspects of their identity and the image they wish to project
• postmodernists like Lyotard argue most important aspects in moulding identities are now:
• consumer choices - tastes and the type, image and style of goods e.g music, household decor, food ect.
• leisure choices - e.g holiday destinations, clubs, self-improvement activities (meditation)
• tourism in postmodernist society: Urry (2002) tourist gaze - they view & consume different objects, scenes, experiences, landscapes

Question 5

creation of identity in a globalised media-saturated consumer society

Answer 5

• Baudrillard argues we live in a media-saturated society
• Ray (2007) globalisation creates a more complex & fluid world marked by constant change and cultural diversity
• global media, globalised consumer products, global brands & chains and increased migration generate more diverse globalised local communities
• local and global have become permanently interconnected through ‘glocalisation’ (global products are adapted to local communities)
• Strinati (1995) suggests globalised media and global popular culture creates pressures to consume & shape consumer choices by bombarding us with images, logos and brands
• these provide ‘do-it-yourself identity kits’ (Bauman & May) - shopping for identities through buying consumer goods and doing leisure activities from a range of lifestyle images from across the globe
• in postmodern consumer society, the structural influences on identity (class, gender, ethnicity, age, nationality) are no longer relevant
• Bradley (1995) argues globalisation has created new hybrid and multiple identities
• Bauman argued life has become a shopping mall, to choose, try out, pick and mix, adopting and changing lifestyles and identities built around the unlimited choice of leisure activities and consumer goods available globally

Question 6

ways globalisation influences identity

Answer 6

• globalised media gives insights into wide range of cultures
• global travel & tourism open up new experiences
• internet & new media enable instant communication, access to other cultures and construction of new online identities
• global culture dilutes/weakens national cultures and identities
• globalised popular culture gives massive choice of lifestyles and images from which to construct identities
• global migration & diasporas expose people to wide range of cultural/ethnic groups in communities with diversity of identities
• declining influence of established youth cultures
• growing risk & uncertainty; identity becomes more unstable and fluid
• more hybrid and pink and mix identities, as cultures intertwine
• work becomes more insecure as source of identity, as manufacturing and jobs move to other countries

Question 7

how much free choice is there in choosing identities?

Answer 7

• postmodernist view that we are now free to adopt any identity through consumer & leisure choices ignores following factors:
• working life & occupation: have major effects on the time and money people have to buy consumer goods and choose leisure activities
• social class: & unequal distribution of wealth & income (Scranton & Bramham 1995) only the most well off members of society have real consumer choice and means to ‘shop for identities’
• age: young people are more likely to have opportunity of forming their identities through participation in leisure-based consumer lifestyles, expressed through purchase of clothes and music, and the clubs, pubs and concerts they go to - even here there is no free choice as age-related laws and income limit choice
• the family life cycle: e.g costs of rent and young children which will diminish as children grow older and less dependent; ill health and less income in retirement may restrict leisure opportunities as people grow older
• gender and gender socialisation: men & women show different leisure interests and consumer patterns - feminists have shown women generally have less time (triple shift - emotional work, domestic work and professional work), money and opportunity for leisure activities than men
• ethnicity: people from diff ethnic groups will make choices in accordance with norms and values and culturally defined roles of their ethnic group - some minorities may find their activities restricted by racism
• the pursuit of profit: Marxists (Clarke & Critcher) argue large corporations control and manipulate people’s choices of consumer spending and leisure activities

Question 8

evaluation of production, consumption, globalisation & identity

Answer 8

• Jenkins believes identity remains rooted in social experience and membership of social groups, and is not something that can be changed at will
• Bradley (postmodernist) says there is more fluidity and choice over identity now, and people are less likely to have a single overarching identity (e.g social class, gender ect) - these no longer shape identities as strongly as they once did, but social inequalities and traditional sources of identity remain important
• globalisation and glocalisation are opening up access to a wide range of new consumer goods, symbols, ideas, cultures and lifestyles and these are increasingly drawn upon to create new, glocal hybrid and multiple identities