Politics of Difference
Quiz 3
Lecture 8
Lecture 9
Lecture 10
Lecture 11
Social identity defined by Appiah and collective identity as defined by Polletta and Jasper are
the same thing (talking about the same phenomenon)
Identity and political leadership
-anyone who is in a position of leadership will be attributed particular identities
-Obama – managed to convey a message (through imagery) relationship with the military
(always between them, never aboce them and never with weapons = demilitarizes
presidential masculinity is racialized and functions to distance the president from
threatening angry black man stereotype) he is always portrayed as part of a team (According
to Cannen) – also a post-hip-hop presidential masculinity is also tied up in Obama’s identity
as loving, black husband, with a dominant strong wife (but he must be strong too)
+ a hint of sexuality and him taking care of his children
-skillfully navigate stereotypes of black men + use the good stereotypes (ghetto cool)
Van der pas and Aaldering (2020) – how often men and woman politicians are mentioned
-for women family, looks, gender, background are mentioned for women and not for men
-mention the actual policy in question or quoate men (less for women)
,Lecture 8 – Identity
-there is a particular form of oppression and marginalization that we experience that we need
to represent – Combahee River Collective (identity politics)
Appiah, K. (2019). Classification
Until the middle of the 20th century people would not have mentioned race, sex, class,
nationality, region or religion when asked about their identity.
-identity was particular and personal
-now identity is social and often shared with billions of others
-argues that identity is socially constructed (constructivism)
Origin
1) Erik Erikson - Developmental Psychology after the WO II
-in Childhood and Society (1950) he uses the term – recognizes the importance of social roles
and group membership in shaping one’s sense of self = ego identity
-identity seemed important to him personally
-he thought identity became a problem in the US because the country was trying to make a
super identity out of all the identities imported by its constituent immigrant and that
technology threatened essentially agrarian and patrician identities in their land of origin
2) Alvin W. Gouldner – social identity
-sociologist in the US
-social identity = which has been assigned to a person by members of his group (not the same
as personal identity)
,-identity in social life concerns questions about who someone is then the observed or imputed
characteristics are interpreted in terms of a set of culturally prescribed categories
-culturally prescribed identities – corresponding to different social identities are different
expectations and differeing configurations of rights and obligations
In the 60s and 70s many societies had political movements grounded in gender,
sexuality, race, religion and ethnicity
A little theory
-authors theoretical thinking about identity began with race, because people reacted so
differently to him in different places
-was born in England, with an English mother and moved to Asante (Ghana) at 1 year old
-in Ghana had a English passport
-skin color made them different – people were puzzled that he was English
-mixed-race became an identity in the US
Thinking about nationality, class and culture and religion as sources of identity and then
gender and sexual orientation – three ways in which these ways of grouping people have
things in common
Labels and why they matter
1) every identity comes with labels, so understanding identities requires that you have an
idea about how they apply to them
-explain why a label is appropriate
-ehtnic lables; arguments can be made for if they apply to someone or not
2) identities matter to people
, -having an identity can give you a sense of fitting into the social world
-identities offer you reasons to do things or not do things
-normative significance = identity matters for practical life; for emotions and deeds (always
disagreement about what normative significance an identity has)
-norms of identification – rules about how you should behave, given your identity
-identities shape lives
3) affects how people treat you/ identity can give you reasons to not do things
-use identity as the basis for hierarchies of status and respect and other structures of power
-dominant identities can mean people will treat you as a source of authority; subordinate
identities can mean you and your interests will be ignored
-struggle over identity occurs when people challenge the assumptions that lead to unequal
distributions of power
-in recent years ideas about gender and sexuality have created movements that seek to
alleviate the social exclusion of people whose gender falls outside the traditional norm
-once identities exist people tend to form a picture of a typical member of the group =
stereotype
-stereotypes have foundation in reality but are often wrong about something
In sum, identities come, first, with labels and ideas about why and to whom they should be
applied. Second, your identity shapes your thoughts about how you should behave; and, third,
it affects the way other people treat you. Finally, all these dimensions of identity are
contestable, always up for dispute: who’s in, what they’re like, how they should behave and
be treated.
Women, man, other?
