Identity

Pierre Bourdieu (High culture)

• High culture enables upperclassman to remain in power

• Elites use high culture to show a higher social status

• Culture reflects social class and keeps inequality in place

Dick Hebdige (sub cultures)

• Subcultures use style, fashion and music to resist the dominant culture.

• Subcultures create meaning through symbols. Ex. Hippies use flowers

• Subcultures are eventually commercialised by the media, making them a part of mass culture.

Dominic Strinati (types of cultures)

• Mass media shapes peoples values, desires and identities

• Popular culture is curated by the media to make a profit

• Mass culture is both a tool of control and a source of pleasure

Becker ( identity )

Came up with the term ‘master status’, a dominant identity that overrides other characteristic, such as criminal.

Erving Goffman (stigma)

Argues that stigma marks a person as less worthy, affecting how others see them and how they see themselves

Talcott Parsons (primary socialisation)

Believes that primary socialisation turns newly borns into social beings

Bourdieu ( Habitus )

Came up with the idea of ‘Habitus’, the internalised way of thinking, behaving and feeling. It includes manner, tastes and values

Bourdieu (cultural capital)

Argues that the upper class maintains identity through cultural capital.

Weber (upper class)

Argues that the upper class uses social closure (by marrying within their class) to keep privilege within their group

Ken Browne (sub groups)

The middle class is not uniform but includes sub-groups

1. Upper middle class : High status professionals Ex. Doctor

2. Lower middle class: Clerical work or small business owners

3. New middle class: Tech workers or media workers

Bourdieu (middle class)

Argues that middle-class possess cultural capital which helps them succeed in schools

Bernstein ( middle class)

Claims that middle-class children use elaborate speech codes which school treat as the ‘correct’ form of communication, therefore matching school language, giving them an advantage

Willis ( manual labour)

Hard manual labour had a huge role in making men feel masculine, and like ‘real men’, making their work a primary source of their identity. Therefore the working class culture promotes traditional gender roles.

Paul willis ( working class )

“learning to labour”,  where working class boys often resist school authority and value manual labour

Charles Murray

claims that the underclass is created by a dependency culture where members depend of welfare benefits. He associated this class with single parent families, a lack of male role models and poor socialisation of children.

Pierre Bourdieu

argues that the underclass suffers from low economic capital (money), low cultural capital and low social capital (network) trapping the members into poverty and limits their ability to build an identity

Connell

came up with the terms ‘Hegemonic masculinity /Femininity’ which refers to the ideal or dominant masculinity/femininity

Ann Oakley

argues that family is the main agent of primary socialisation, and believes that the family plays a key role in hegemonic gender identities. Oakley refuses to believe that genders are biological, instead learn from the family. She identifies 4 process by which parents teach children hegemonic gender identities:

1. Manipulation : Family encourages behaviour that aligns with traditional gender expectations

2. Canalisation :  Family encourages gender appropriate activities and toys

3. Verbal appellations : Family uses different language and labels for boys and girls.

4. Different activities : Boys and girls are encouraged to take part in different tasks