THEME 1: “US AND THEM”: IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE
STUDY UNIT 1: THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF IDENTITY
CATAGORIES OF IDENTIY
National Identities
o Languages, institutions and culture.
o Political and perceived emotional link to a specific territory.
Transnational Identities
o International communities that form around specific communities
o Religion
Subnational Cultures
o Regionality, language, class, politics, shared history.
o Bound by the concept of ethnicity
o “He participates in a local Zulu festival
o Diaspora – large scale movement of people with a shared geographical origin to other
parts of the world.
Ethnocentrism
o Viewing one’s own groups as superior to others.
o Chauvinism – belief that your own group is the best.
ASCRIBED AND ACHIEVED IDENTITIES
Ascribed
o Determined at birth by the society you’re born into
o Race is a social construct.
Achieved
o Derived from membership of an association.
STUDY UNIT 2: SIGNALLING IDENTITY AND ASSERTING DIFFERENCE
TANGIBLE MARKERS OF IDENTITY
Can be seen and may remain behind after person is dead
Clothing
Body Modification
o As cultural property – Maori
INTANGIBLE MARKERS OF IDENTITY
Preparation or consumption of foods
Speaking a language.
,STUDY UNIT 3: “TO BE OR NOT TO BE…” PERSPECTIVES ON IDENTITIES IN
MOTION
RETRADITIONALISATION
An upsurge of cultural identities or culturally constituted groups such as traditional chiefdoms, in
which identity is circumscribed in terms of shared knowledge, meanings, values, behaviour and a
characteristic way of life that are unique to each of such groups.
RETRADITIONALISATION IN SOUTH AFRICA
Retraditionalisation often locks people into a single identity whereas, particularly under
challenging conditions, they need the freedom to be flexible in their identification
The notion that bounded cultural identities have persisted unchanged through to the present is
generated by the people concerned, as well as their helpers and advisors.
UNRAVELLING “RETRADITIONALISATION”
Sharp
o The struggle for rights by cultural identities must be actively supported, since it is a self-
help initiative on the part of such groups to correct injustices of the past.
STUDY UNIT 4: IDENTITY, DIFFERENCE AND CONFLICT
XENEPHOBIA
An intense or irrational fear or dislike of people from other countries
Braamfontein Statement
o Regardless of whether migrants are legal or illegal, they are entitled to the same basic
human rights and the protection of the constitution as S.A citizens
Certain government departments have been implicated in xenophobic attitudes towards
foreigners
The widespread violence witnessed in 2008 was not unique to South Africa
Being subject to xenophobic attitudes is a violation to one’s fundamental right
No effective measures have been put onto place to counteract xenophobic behaviour
Greater interactions between foreigners and locals will reduce stress
Some politicians have regarded violent xenophobic behaviour towards foreigners in South Africa
as ‘opportunistic’ criminal actions
NATIONAL IDENTITY
How we see ourselves in relation to others and the wider community, and denotes a collection
of symbols that help individuals relate to one another on an equal footing.
, THEME 2: WEALTH AND STATUS
STUDY UNIT 5: SOCIAL CLASS
The divisions between people based on differences in income and wealth (the haves and have
not’s)
Status – the distinctions between those who are worthy of more or less respect.
Social class refers to:
o Diversions between owners and non-owners
o The tendency to exclude others who are regarded as not being part of the privileged
group.
o The perceptions of people of how much respect they deserve based upon their income.
o When placing someone in a particular class you look at:
Wealth
Income
Status
CLASS AND SOCIAL CLOSURE
Social closure
o Boundaries between those belonging to a lower class and the tendency of each group to
socialise among themselves.
o The mobilisation in which classes engage in order to advance their own interests.
THE REPRODUCTION OF CLASS POSITION OVER TIME AND ACROSS GENERATIONS
Economic Capital
o Wealth that the wealthy are able to transfer to their children by bequeathing it to them
upon their death.
Social capital
o The advantages to be derived from ones social connections
o Basis of social capital is reciprocity or relationships of mutual help
Cultural capital
o A good education at elite schools and universities which provide for future success
o A mark of status to have attended an elite university
o What is good taste and what is not – decorate their homes, participate in high cultural
events (ballet performances) eat food and groom themselves
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