Topic 2: The Process of Identity Construction
Let’s begin
The previous text asserts that the countless interactions we have with people other than ourselves have a lot to do with how our identity is constructed. At the same time, CTI also implies that identity is fluid rather than fixed. It is embedded in our conceptions of ourselves, our actions, our relationships, and our social affiliations, and it is produced, refashioned, and continually negotiated through interaction and social performances.
Learning Outcome: After having gone through this activity, you should be able to analyze issues in the construction of personal identities.
Watch (Link 1) and Read (Link 2)
Erving Goffman and the Performed Self
From BBC Radio 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z0XS-QLDWM
Adam Barnhart’s short commentary on Goffman’s theory
Think
Answer the following study questions:
- How did Goffman employ a dramaturgical approach in studying identity?
- In Barnhart’s commentary, why is impression management seemingly more crucial for marginalized individuals?
- How does one make sense of the concept of “spontaneity” if the “front” is assumed to function in a general and fixed fashion?
Dig Deeper
Impression Management. In SW Littlejohn & KA Foss (eds), Encyclopaedia of Communication
Theory, pp. 506-509. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Goffman, E. (1956). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. University of Edinburgh Social
Sciences Research Centre, George Square, Edinburgh 8 Monograph No. 2