To what extent is human identity increasingly mediated?

To what extent is human identity increasingly mediated? 

- Using your work from the last two lessons prepare a plan for a 500 word essay on this question.

• Identity: - Gauntlett says for modern society; "Having an identity is a known requirement"
• David Buckingham says "identity also implies a relationship with a broader collective or social group of some kind." 
• Zygmut Bauman says "Identity is almost infinitely negotiable" 
• Mediation: - De Zengotita says mediation is the process of us experiencing the world through the media, so the media must shape our identity. 
• Mediation also means the negotiation to resolve a dispute between two things. Remember Bauman! 
• Stuart Hall tells us that negotiation in the media - is when we interpret a media text based on ourselves and our own ideas, rather than mindlessly absorbing it.
• So...  Mediation could be the negotiation, the process of us using the media to create our identity. 
• Buckingham and Poletta & Jasper say that we normally create this identity using a collective (group). P&J say this identity can be created by an outsider (The Media) but the group must accept it.
• This group can often become a subculture. 
• Cohen says that if this group is not understood (they are Deviant) by society, they can be Demonised. This can create a moral panic against that group by the outside media. This can in return, strengthen and reinforce that group in a repeating cycle. (The media essentially publicises the deviant behaviour) 
• Lacan says that we like to look at people like ourselves (The mirror stage). 
• So!... 
• Mediation could be.... our relationship with the media, how we use the media to find others like ourselves and to define who we are. (This is often how subcultures exist or are defined) 

The questions says, has this process increased or decreased? 

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Here's the article we discussed about whether, for modern youth, subcultures have died

Here are some ideas of examples you can focus on. Think about

New Media: 

YouTube: - KSI / Zoella / PewDiePie / JennaMarbles / Other famous YouTubers that are either identified with, or where collective identity is formed as being a collection of fans (eg. PewDiePie's 'Bro Force')

• http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/22/pewdiepie-youtube-felix-kjellberg-this-book-loves-you 
• http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/survey-youtube-stars-more-popular-than-mainstream-celebs-among-u-s-teens-1201275245/ 
• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2846670/What-YouTube-superstar-Zoella-reveals-teenage-girls.html 
• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-3280866/I-don-t-feel-like-celebrity-just-feel-like-teenage-girl-wants-Zoella.html

Instagram: - One Direction / Taylor Swift / Justin Bieber / Essena O'Neill

Facebook / Social Media: - UniLad / LadBIBLE / VICE / IFLScience etc. / Fan Pages

• http://www.buzzfeed.com/patricksmith/inside-the-lad-bibles-viral-web-empire#.yx08vblmgR 
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31126002 

Web 2.0 Sites:  - Reddit / 4Chan / 9Gag / LadBible

TV: 

Educating Essex /Cardiff/EastEnd / Barely Legal Drivers / Made In Chelsea / Misfits / The Inbetweeners / Fresh Meat / Fandoms: Dr Who, Sherlock Etc. (People who identify because of being a fan rather than with the show, the content defines them)

• http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/aug/29/educating-the-east-end-educating-yorkshire-educating-essex
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8216973/Misfits-a-typically-British-surprise-hit.html

MUSIC: 

One Direction / Justin Bieber / Lady Gaga / Rihanna / Beyonce / Specific Musical Subcultures: - Eg Dance / Grime / Metal / Punk / Dubstep / Rave / Indie etc.

- http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/aug/24/one-direction-fans-boyband-teenage-girls

FILM:

Eden Lake / Shank / Harry Potter / Kings of Summer / The Hunger Games / Twilight /

NEWS: 

Reporting of London Riots / Knife Crime / Gang Violence / 'Out of control Party' stories / Moral Panics surrounding young people and: Alcohol / Sex / Violence etc. / Moral Panics surrounding internet memes and viral trends.

David Buckingham on Identity in the Digital Age

Read this introduction to David Buckingham's Youth, Identity & Digital Media (2005) - You can skip the foreword and start on Page 5 if you like.

Read the first few pages and use Buckingham's summary to answer the following questions.

Introducing Identity

1) What or who does Buckingham say identity "implies a relationship with".

2) According to Buckingham Identity is also "about identification with others whom we assume are..."

3) Why is Identity becoming more prominent (more important and visible) according to the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman?

4) Also according to Bauman, "Identity is almost infinitely..." what?

Identity Formation: The Psychology of Adolescence

5) How does G. Stanley Hall define the period of Adolescence as?

6) How does Erikson see Adolescence?

7) Also according to Erikson, what needs to happen for a young person "to arrive at an integrated, coherent sense of their identity"

8) How does Susannah Stern (from the same book) suggest that the internet and online activities can help this process?

Youth Culture and the Sociology of Youth

9) According to Buckingham when was the category of the Teenager invented?

10) What other categories does he state that "crucially blur the distinctions between children, youth and adults" ?

Mediation and Mediated Identity - Theories and Homework

Here is my powerpoint on Mediation, Negotiation, and the Mediated nature of collective identity.

The important thing to grasp is the idea of a negotiated sense of identity that we create in combination with both ourselves and our media role models and influences.

In other words we create our identity based on the media we consume and the people in the media we see, in combination with our own personality. (Hall, Poletta & Jasper, & Gauntlett both can support this).

De Zengotita believes that as we assimilate almost all information and messages via the media, that our identity is now almost entirely mediated (negotiated between the media and the audience.)

Whereas Althusser believes we are constructed by the media, and believe its messages to be real, and that we as individuals do not affect this (everyone is affected in the same way)

Mediation and Collective Identity

For your homework can you think of and find answers and examples to the following questions:

1. Can you personally relate to the idea of creating identity using the media? Are there any characters or media personalities who you feel represent you?
2. Can you think of any examples of Collective Identities being heavily influenced and define themselves by the media? Particularly youth sub-cultures that are often defined by the type of media they consume:
3. Are there identities that are often constructed then perpetuated by the media? Eg. ‘The Chav’ Or are there individuals? Eg. Amy Winehouse
4. How can these media identities influence others? Eg ‘Skins Parties’
5. In an Internet ‘We Media’ world how can we use the media to create identities? Eg. Online Fandoms, YouTube, instagram