Sociology of Social Identity

What is social identity?

Collective or group identities applied to important roles; cultures classify, group, and give meaning to identities.

What four major elements of social identity are covered in Unit 1.3?

Social class, gender, ethnicity, and age.

How do societies construct social identities?

They attach meanings, expectations, and patterns of behaviour to categories of people.

How does social identity influence behaviour?

It shapes expectations about how people belonging to particular groups should behave.

Are social identities always fixed?

No. They can change in response to social, economic, cultural, and historical changes.

How does Crompton (2003) suggest measuring social class?

Occupation is a useful general measure for defining working-, middle-, and upper-class groupings.

Why is occupation important when studying class identity?

Different work-related experiences help shape class identities.

What traditionally defined working-class identity?

Manual work and the manufacturing industry.

How did traditional working-class communities reinforce class identity?

Close, largely urban communities reinforced shared cultural beliefs through personal experience and socialisation.

What does the term 'working-class Self' contrasted with the 'middle-/upper-class Other' mean?

Working-class identity was formed partly through distinguishing oneself from other social classes.

What two changes to employment did Crompton identify?

A decline in traditional manufacturing industries and a rise in service industries, including banking and computing.

What is the new working class?

A section of the working class whose employment and lifestyle differ from those of the traditional manufacturing-based working class.

What did Goldthorpe et al. (1968) identify about the new working class?

It developed new forms of identity, including privatised or home-centred and instrumental orientations.

What is a privatised or home-centred working-class identity?

An identity focused on the home and family rather than wider collective working-class life.

What does an instrumental orientation to work mean?

Work is viewed as a means to an end, such as creating a comfortable home and family life, rather than an end in itself.

What did Devine (1992) argue about class identity?

Important differences between the new working class and the middle classes remained.

What identity did the new working class retain, according to Devine?

A strong sense of 'being working class'.

What kinds of occupations are associated with middle-class identities?

Professionals, managers, intellectuals, consultants, and routine service workers.

How are professional identities, such as doctors, characterised?

High educational achievement, personal autonomy, and decision-making.

How does Brooks (2006) characterise managerial identity?

Career progression, decision-making, power and control over others, and organising work routines.

What characterises intellectual identities?

Work involving knowledge and information services, such as university lecturing.

What do consultants do, according to the textbook?

Sell knowledge, information, and skills across national and global markets.

Why are routine service workers included in the middle class?

Their work is non-manual, and some occupations, such as nursing, carry higher social status, even when earnings or skill levels are relatively low.

What are the two major groupings of the upper class?

The landed aristocracy and the business elite.

What is the traditional source of power of the landed aristocracy?

Historic landownership and political connections to the monarchy.

How has the position of the landed aristocracy changed?

Its economic power and influence may have declined over the twentieth century, but it remains a significant upper-class group.

What characterises the business elite?

Great income and wealth based on ownership of significant national, international, and global companies.

What wealth distribution figures did Self and Zealey (2007) report for the UK?

The wealthiest 1% owned 21% of total wealth, while the least wealthy 50% owned 7%.

What income and poverty figures does the textbook give for India?

The top 10% of wage-earners earned 12 times more than the bottom 10%; it also reports that 42% of India's 1.2 billion population lived on around $1.25 a day.

What did Davies et al. (2008) report about global wealth?

The world's richest 1% owned 40% of global wealth; 60% of that 1% lived in the USA and Japan.

What did Connell et al. (1987) argue about becoming a man or a woman?

People are not simply born into social identities as men or women; gender identities are socially constructed.

What is biological sex?

Physical characteristics used to label people male or female.

What is gender?

The social characteristics and expectations associated with each sex.

What did Lips (1993) argue about male and female identities?

Differences in identity do not arise naturally from biological differences.

What does it mean to say gender identities are historically and cross-culturally variable?

Gender expectations differ between historical periods and cultures.

What does it mean to say gender identities are learnt and relative?

People acquire gender expectations through socialisation, and those expectations depend on the social and cultural context.

What are the two dominant gender identities identified by Connell (1995)?

Hegemonic masculinity and emphasised femininity.

What is hegemonic masculinity?

A dominant ideal of masculinity associated with traditional expectations of male strength, leadership, provision, rationality, calmness, and emotional restraint.

What physical ideal may be associated with hegemonic masculinity?

A body shape that emphasises physical strength.

What is emphasised femininity?

A traditional female identity defined by accommodating men's interests and needs and complementing hegemonic masculinity.

What is 'complicit femininity', according to Kitchen (2006)?

A femininity defined by male needs and desires, in which women are regarded as passive, emotional beings serving others.

What are alternative masculinities?

Forms of male identity that differ from the dominant ideal of hegemonic masculinity.

What are subordinate masculinities, according to Schauer (2004)?

Masculinities regarded as lesser forms, particularly when men cannot or do not perform hegemonic masculinity.

What example of subordinate masculinity does the textbook give?

Men with physical disabilities who may be unable to meet conventional expectations of masculinity.

What are subversive masculinities?

Alternative male identities that challenge and undermine hegemonic masculinity.

What example illustrates subversive masculinity?

A serious student who works hard at school rather than joining a disruptive gang.

What are complicit masculinities?

Masculinities that accept aspects of traditional femininity, such as men sharing paid work, unpaid housework, and childcare.

What is the 'new man'?

An example of complicit masculinity in which men share domestic responsibilities and see women as equals.

Why did Connell (1995) argue that male identities were beginning to change?

Women had become more powerful, changing the position of men and traditional gender relationships.

What are marginalised masculinities?

Male identities in which men feel pushed to the margins of family life because they cannot fulfil traditional masculine roles, often due to long-term unemployment.

What did Willott and Griffin (1996) observe about marginalised masculinities?

Among the long-term unemployed working class, traditional beliefs about being a good family provider conflicted with the loss of traditional working-class jobs.

Who wrote Young Masculinities (2002)?

Stephen Frosh and Ann Phoenix.

How did Frosh and Phoenix research boys' gender identities?

Through individual and focus-group interviews with boys aged 11-14 in London schools.

What pressure did the boys experience regarding masculinity?

They were expected to be 'hard', demonstrate sporting success, show casual attitudes toward schoolwork, and swear.

What role did football play in the boys' identities?

It was important to masculinity, and boys were expected to talk about it.

Why did some boys play down their interest in appearance?

Caring about appearance was seen as feminine.

What did the researchers find about boys presenting a masculine 'front'?

Some boys performed masculinity around other boys but abandoned that front during individual interviews or when around girls.

What did the research reveal about boys and emotions?

Contrary to popular stereotypes, boys were willing to discuss emotions in some settings and recognised that girls could be easier to talk to.

What was the overall conclusion of the research?

Masculinity was important to boys' identities, and attitudes toward it developed from a relatively early age.

Who proposed four main ways children are socialised into gender roles?

Ann Oakley (1972).

What is manipulation in gender socialisation?

Encouraging gender-appropriate characteristics, such as stressing appearance for girls and bravery or strength for boys.

What is canalisation?

Directing children's attention and activities toward gendered behaviours, such as girls helping mothers cook and boys playing sport with fathers.

What is verbal appellation?

Using language that reinforces gender expectations, such as telling girls they are pretty.

What is socialisation through different activities?

Children learn gender expectations by observing what parents and other people do, such as seeing cooking and cleaning as women's work.

What are the three main forms of feminine identity Oakley discusses in contemporary societies?

Contingent femininities, assertive identities, and autonomous femininities.

What are contingent femininities?

Feminine identities shaped by male beliefs, behaviours, and demands.

What are normalised identities?

Contingent identities in which women learn to play a secondary role to men as mothers, girlfriends, or partners.

What difficulty do Chambers et al. (2003) identify for women with normalised identities?

The struggle to produce a femininity that secures male approval.

What are sexualised identities?

Identities constructed through male perspectives and fantasies, in which women are treated as sexual objects for male gratification.

What are assertive feminine identities?

Identities that reflect women's changing social position and challenge traditional femininity without completely separating women from men.

What did Froyum (2005) argue about assertive femininity?

It allows women to resist male power without necessarily threatening to overthrow that power.

What are 'girl power' identities, according to Hollows (2000)?

Identities emphasising sex as fun and the importance of female friendship; older women may be excluded.

What are modernised femininities?

Identities associated with a somewhat older age group that place women's new economic and cultural power within family relationships.

What did McRobbie (1996) associate with modernised femininities?

Individualism, liberty, and entitlement to sexual self-expression within traditional gender relationships.

What are ageing femininities?

Identities asserting older women's right to remain fashionable, active, and sexual beings.

What are autonomous femininities?

Identities involving competition with men on women's own terms.

What did Evans (2006) argue about autonomous femininities?

Female individualism is part of a new gender regime that frees women from traditional constraints, including pregnancy and childcare.

What characteristics does the textbook associate with autonomous women?

High education, professional success, middle-class status, and career focus.

What relationship patterns does the textbook associate with autonomous women?

Non-committal heterosexual attachments that may involve marriage but are unlikely to involve children.

What two important points should sociologists remember when studying ethnic identity?

Ethnicity is not the same as race, and ethnicity should not be treated as something relevant only to minorities.

What did Ossorio (2003) argue about race?

The simple biological notion of race is wrong; there is no solid scientific evidence for genetically distinct racial groups.

What did the Center for Social Welfare Research (1999) argue about ethnicity?

Everyone has an ethnic identity in some sense because people have diverse origins and are perceived and treated by others in particular ways.

What is ethnicity?

A combination of cultural differences involving religion, family structures, beliefs, values, and norms.

What did Winston (2005) suggest about ethnic identity?

Ethnic identities develop when people see themselves as distinctive from others because of shared cultural background and history.

What did Song (2003) identify as markers of ethnic identity?

Common ancestry and memories of a shared past.

What are symbolic elements of ethnic identity?

Family and kinship, religion, language, territory, nationality, and physical appearance.

Does ethnic identity require objective proof of cultural difference?

No. The key factor is whether people are conscious of belonging to the group.

What role does country of birth play in ethnic identity?

It can provide a sense of shared geographical origin.

How can shared history shape ethnic identity?

Shared experiences can create collective identity, such as the experiences of slavery among Black Caribbean and African identities or the Holocaust in Jewish identities.

How can religion shape ethnic identity?

Shared religious beliefs, celebrations, traditions, and worship practices can connect people culturally.

How do ethnic identities differ from racial identities in the textbook?

Ethnic identities can be negotiated and can change in response to internal and external influences.

What are external influences on ethnic identity?

Factors such as contact with other cultures.

What are internal influences on ethnic identity?

Clashes of ideas and experiences between different age, class, or gender groups within an ethnic group.

Why do ethnic identities require constant maintenance?

Collective activities and cultural artefacts help preserve shared identity.

What activities can maintain ethnic identity?

Festivals, celebrations, and religious gatherings.

What material and symbolic artefacts can maintain ethnic identity?

Traditional clothing, food, and crafts.

What did Wimmer (2008) argue about ethnic boundaries?

Ethnic identities are defined in relation to other groups by constructing a sense of difference.

What are positive ethnic boundaries?

Boundaries that create a sense of belonging to a recognisable cultural group and may help resist racism and discrimination.

How can ethnic boundaries become negative?

They can be imposed through cultural stereotypes that define and restrict how groups are perceived.

How can stereotypes affect ethnic identity?

Stereotypes can reinforce a group's sense of identity, even when those stereotypes originate outside the group.