Identity - Introduction Sociology - Lecture Slides, Slides of Introduction to Sociology

Download Identity - Introduction Sociology - Lecture Slides and more Slides Introduction to Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! Chapter 12 BEING: IDENTITY docsity.com Developing the Sociology of the Self • The idea of possessing an individual identity is socially, culturally, and historically specific • Language is a precondition for a sense of self docsity.com Erving Goffman – Roles and Identities The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life 1959 Dramaturgical Approach: Social life can be seen as a drama in which we all play roles. ‘role’ = the socially ascribed content of an inevitable aspect of social life through which we produce and present a range of ‘selves’ to the world. docsity.com Socially Constructed Self • Individuals monitor their behaviour through conscious thought. • This thought can only operate through symbols learnt in a social context. • These symbols are mostly learned through access to language. • Through language we gain access to shared meanings and social expectations. • We come to know who we are and what we should do through the ways other people respond to us. • We interpret other people’s responses to us by using our social knowledge of meanings. • The social world is constituted through our shared definitions of roles and identities that are constructed through interaction. • Self and society are fluid and adaptable. docsity.com Goffman, Disability and Identity Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity 1963 • Processes of stigmatization • Information control – concealment and disclosure • Internalized identity • Social Identity • Types of stigma – undesirable difference → physical abnormalities → character blemishes → tribal stigma of race, nation, or religion From a disability studies point of view Goffman’s approach may be seen as doing its own version of ‘stigmatizing’ but it still contains many useful insights. docsity.com