How has sociology contributed to an understanding of the socialisation of the self? Discuss the processes of identity formation that contribute to a sense of self.
“I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records, all saws of books, all forms, all pressures past… And thy commandment all alone shall live within the book and volume of my brain, unmixed with baser matter.”
Shakespeare’s treatment of Hamlet in the quote above shows a preference for internal thoughts over externalities. However, as I will show through my essay, it is the relationship between external institutions and an internal dialogue that helps contribute to a sense of self. Richard Jenkins’ distinction between “internal-external dialectics of identification” is a useful language to help explicate the socialisation of the self in contemporary society. Whilst the socialisation of the self is thoroughly subjective, we often internally consider external factors such as embodiement, gender, race, consumerism and many other dynamic factors. This single process is becoming increasingly transparent in the modern world. This is may be due to an increased volume in sociological study; however, I will argue that it is also due to the increasingly fluid and one-dimensional roles we play in the world.
One way we internally construct a sense of self is our interaction with our own body. Part of this internal dialogue is how we construct ourselves as external other people see us. Holmes argues that our unique knowledge of our own selves is indivisible from embodiment. Linking myself to a body gives continuity in my sense of self. For instance, my recollection of childhood memories has a firmly placed “I” in a child’s body, and thus this conception of youth has had an impact on who I consider myself to be now. So, the limitations of our bodies also limits our construction of self. Whilst identity is widely viewed as a cultural product, we can conclude that (due to the inherent link between identity and the body) some aspects of our identity are likely to have a biological basis. This doesn’t mean biology necessarily determining identity; but rather, social and cultural norms have shaped the way such biological differences will be relevant.
The Essay on External/Internal Factors Paper
Factors Paper Ms. Della Bond, Jessica Shurtleff, Julie Legette, Katharine White, Veronica Briggins MGT-230 May,20,2013 Instructor Dillhyon External/Internal Factors Paper The following paper will demonstrate how internal and external factors affect the four functions of management (planning, organizing, leading, and controlling) within the McDonald’s corporation. Additionally, this paper will also ...
An understanding of our own bodies must include an internal conception of gender. Holmes states “Gender makes human beings culturally intelligible”. However, men and women externally consider themselves in different ways. Women, it appears, are culturally forced to preference how others view them as a way socialising the self. One only need to look at differences in salary between men and women to see that inequality is dominant in most western societies. This inequality manifests quite strongly in the distinct feminine conceptions of self and consequently the different behaviour displayed. Young argues that women experience their sense of self, and display behaviour, in a way that may be restricted or limited because of its placement within a patriarchal society. Women “become used to the idea that their bodies are to be looked at” and thus “[women] feel more physically inhibited, confined, positioned and objectified”. By contrast, one only need to look at the difference between the typical cross-legged seating of women and the legs open seating of men to see that men learn to inhabit and fill out space rather than retreat from it. It may appear that this is purely biology determining difference between gendered bodies. However, gender and identities are social institutions, not pre-determined by biology. Whilst this highlights that some injustices in a social context are a direct result of our own misguided attitudes; if gender and other social markers are socially constructed we gain greater agency in addressing these issues. Allowing us to ‘un-think’ these norms.
An individual may also create a sense of whether they are ‘normal’ or alienated. This is due to the fact that often societies will have constructed a cultural middle, where only certain groups will fit. Cultural attitudes determine what is ‘normal’ and is often striven for by individuals through economic and social efforts. It is likely that individuals that are a part of this normal group are will rarely be critically aware of their own ethnicity, economic status, religion etc. Conversely, those that do not fit into this group may construct themselves in an alienated way. Importantly, these two ways in constructing a self only gain meaning through their binary opposition. Jenkins articulates it well, stating, “similarity and difference are the dynamic principles of identification”. . It is quite common that minority groups, such as ethnic or low-income groups, feel, as part of the deviant or alienated ‘other’.
The Essay on Hamlet 9 Action Play Father
There have been many great thinkers in literature. Characters who examine themselves, others, and the world in a thoughtful and insightful way. One of these introspective and self-aware literary creations is Hamlet in Shakespeare's play Hamlet. The play is one filled with and based on ideas and contemplation as opposed to the steady stream of action that fills many of his other plays. Not that ...
Shakespeare appears to use Hamlet to demonstrate the way human beings may lose their sense of innate self. Like us, Hamlet deals with various different roles he must ‘act’ throughout life (the play).
Perhaps Shakespeare’s clearest representation of this, is the “antic disposition” that Hamlet employs in order to discover a truth in the play. Initially, the audience has a firm recognition of Hamlet’s sanity and that when he is mad, he is only acting. However, as the play progresses Hamlet appears to succumb to this supposed ‘fake’ madness. Hamlet’s downfall could be due to his belief that he can separate who he is from the roles that he plays in his life. Similarly, we often have a fixed sense of who we are. However, especially in our modern context, it could be argued that we are losing this sense of fixed self. Indeed, who we think we are is not who is behind the roles that we play, but perhaps a culmination of these roles constantly changing and elusive.
The world of Hamlet, a world of enormously complex political, social and cultural issues, is precisely the world that we find ourselves in today. Just about every objective social institution has been brought into the realm of the subjective, signifying that meaning is merely contextual. As Scholte points when talking about globalisation, “if a definition of a core concept is slippery, then the knowledge built upon it is likely to be similarly shaky, and in turn, actions pursued on the basis of that knowledge can be very well misguided”. It appears as this statement can be transposed to identity as well. For here Goffman described us as actors putting on a “performance” in our lives, it now appears we are just the performance, with no fixed foundations.
The Essay on Hamlet Play Review
On Saturday October 14, 2000, the North Carolina Shakespeare festival put on a performance of Hamlet. This show, which was performed at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, North Carolina, was directed by _____________________, who also directed ____________________. ___________________ did a really good job at playing Hamlet, which is a very hard role to act for any actor. Hamlet was produced by the ...
——————————————–
[ 2 ]. Holmes, Mary, What is Gender? Sociological Approaches, Sage Publications, 2007, Los Angeles, New York, 180.
[ 3 ]. Holmes, May, (2007), What is Gender?, Sociological Approaches Los Angeles, New York Sage Publications, 101.
[ 4 ]. Longley, Robert, Gender Wage Gap, Census Data Shows, Consulted 7th April 2011 – http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/censusandstatistics/a/paygapgrows.htm
[ 5 ]. Young, Iris Marion. Throwing Like a Girl and Other Essays in Feminist Philosophy and Social Theory. Indiana: Indian University Press, 1990. Print.
[ 6 ]. Holmes, 105-106.
[ 7 ]. Jenkins 18.
[ 8 ]. For instance, Holmes cited the example of a middle class mother in her essay “What is Gender?” In this example, a middle class mother would ‘dress up’ when picking up her kid as she didn’t want herself or the child to be viewed as “the poor ones”. Her awareness of this ‘cultural norm’ is made explicit in her statement that she wanted to be “accepted” by the others.
[ 9 ]. Jenkins 5.
[ 10 ]. Scholte, Jan Aart, Globalisation: A Critical Introduction, 2nd ed. Palgrave Macmillan 2005, pg 1.
[ 11 ]. Goffman, Erving, THE PRESENTATION OF SELF IN EVERYDAY LIFE, Penguin Books, Great Britain, 1980. P 33.