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Module 3 Communication Theory of Identity (CTI) Communication & Identity Construction Michael Hecht, 1980s. ➔ Humans are inherently social beings 1.0 What is Identity?...

Module 3 Communication Theory of Identity (CTI) Communication & Identity Construction Michael Hecht, 1980s. ➔ Humans are inherently social beings 1.0 What is Identity? whose lives revolve around ➔ It is the “everyday word for people’s communication and relationships, and sense of who they are” (Djite), wherein who operate from multiple and shifting sense is formed through interactions. identities. ➔ It is not stable and unitary but rather ➔ Identities and identification are key shifting and multiple. processes through which people and ➔ Our self-concept and other’s groups orient themselves to each other conceptions of us are not the same. A and the world around them. person’s identity is shaped by relationships with others. 4 Loci or Frames of Identity: ➔ It is fluid, political, and personal. 1. Personal frame - self-cognitions and ➔ Identity is constructed in the process of sense of being. How you see and interacting and communicating with identify yourself. Includes all personal others. It is inherently communicative dispositional characteristics that help us and social. make sense of who we belong to. 2. Enacted frame - performance and outward expressions. How you express The Process of Identity Construction yourself and act in relationships. Includes how we formulate messages to Identity as a Social Process express. ➔ It is constructed in and through 3. Relational frame - identity is embedded language and communication. in our relationships with others. How ➔ To view identity as a social process is to identity plays out in relation to others. acknowledge that identity is an Includes how your act is shaped under interactional accomplishment. different expectations and norms. ➔ It is embedded in our conceptions of 4. Communal frame - shared version of ourselves, our actions, and others. “personhood” for a collective identity. ➔ It is produced, refashioned, and How cultural norms or traditions define continually negotiated through things. Identities here are ascribed and interaction and social performances. avowed to through relationships. Communication defines our identity.. These frames interpenetrate or are intertwined Directly - linguistic codes (naming, with each other. They are not separate but kinship), macro- & micro- characteristics fused. Indirectly - internalize judgment based on our way of expressing ourselves Example: Gender Identity - Personal: identify as a man or woman In this continuous process of identity - Enacted: how you act your identity construction, some of the conceptions that we based on different influences form about ourselves and others that are: - Relational: how gender is influenced by Relevant - maintained your relationships with other Changed over time - refabricated - Communal: societal expectations and Irrelevant - replaced stereotypes about gender roles.  The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Erving Goffman Belief in the Part One is Playing ➔ When a person interacts with others, This notion explains how identities are usually they implicitly request their audience to consistent and complementary. However believe that the image they are contradictions and discrepancies can occur like projecting is real. They do it for the mismatch. benefit of other people. ➔ Sometimes, the performer (the Identity Gap by Jung and Hecht individual) might genuinely believe in the ➔ Pertains to the discrepancies between role they are playing. This means that the 4 frames. Focuses on the gap not only do they want their audience to between personal and relational, and believe in their image, but they also personal and enacted. It should be believe it themselves. associated with communication outcomes like communication 2 Extremes: satisfaction, feeling understood, and Sincerity - performer is fully convinced conversational appropriateness and by their own act and believes that the effectiveness. image they project is real. Cynicism - performer is not convinced by their own performance. They are aware that their act is just an illusion, 2.0 Collective Identities but they continue to perform for other Social Identity Theory, Hecht and Choi purposes. They might even take (2012): Identity is based on social pleasure in manipulating the audience’s categorization and shared group perception. memberships. These include racial and ethnic, national, religious, and In both cases, the audience is meant to believe organizational identity. the performance, but the key difference lies in ➔ Societal norms and practices become whether the performer believes in their own act. part of how we see ourselves (internalized) through the groups we Mask = Person belong to (social identities based on Goffman highlights that everyone is constantly social categories). playing roles in different contexts. The mask or ➔ CTI views identity as something as a role we strive to live up to becomes part of our collective or group quality. As a form of identity. social construction, there is a “shared” element to identity. A group also shares FRONT common images of “selfhood” or Performance - any activity an individual identity that transcend individual group engages in when they are in front of members and are reflected in cultural observers. products and myths. Front - expressive tools and behaviors an individual uses during their performance to create a specific impression.  Setting - physical space and backdrop Positioning Theory in which the performance occurs. ➔ Elaborates the power dynamics involved ○ Fixed - individuals must go in and the character of positions through a order to begin their act. consideration of the rights and duties ○ Movable - typically associated associated with identity positions. with sacred or important figures who maintain their performance no matter where they go. Positioning and Social Representations Personal Front - mobile and personal elements Moscovici’s Social Representation Theory that individuals bring to their performances. ➔ Based on systematic social psychology. Fixed - racial characteristics, do not vary ➔ Triangular relationship: from one situation to another ◆ the self (Ego), Mobile/Transitory - facial expression, ◆ the object (representation) can vary from one moment to another ◆ and the other (another subject). ➔ Appearance - signs or stimuli that ➔ It illustrates that each element is indicate the performer’s social status interdependent, creating a complex and their temporary ritual state. dynamic that influences how identities ➔ Manner - behavioral cues that indicate are formed and understood. the role the performer expects to play in the upcoming interaction. Duveen’s ➔ Asymmetric Relation: Constraint, Social Front - often conveys information that is Symmetric Relation: Cooperation abstract and general rather than unique to ➔ Social representations provide various specific performances or individuals. This identities that individuals can adopt. allows observers to categorize performances ➔ 2 components of social identities: without delving into the specifics of each ◆ Meanings related to an object situation. ◆ Positions towards that object. ➔ Traditional parts: setting, appearance, and manner. Identities can be defined as positions in relation to social representations since people make sense of themselves and their experiences by drawing on and reconstructing social Identity, Positioning and Self-Other Relations representations. Eleni Andreouli Therefore, it is the quality of self-other relations Identity is defined both as a set of meanings that shapes knowledge construction. Social individuals ascribe to themselves and as a representations provide people with a variety of dynamic process of identification, involving both positions but these positions are further self-perception and recognition by others. It is elaborated by one’s relations with an ‘other’. not static; instead, it is embedded within social relations, making it contextual and relational. Positioning theory can further contribute to our understanding of positioning processes and Social representations refer to the shared self-other interactions through the concepts of beliefs and meanings within a society that rights and duties. influence how individuals perceive themselves and others.  Self and Other Positioning in Discourse Moral orders refer to the normative aspects of social representations that define gender roles Subject position - the process by which people and identities. are located within the realm of discourses. Rights and duties are central to understanding Positioning Theory - developed by Harré et al. how identity positions are negotiated within It shifts focus from fixed identities to dynamic, social contexts. They dictate the entitlements discursive processes. Identity and selfhood are individuals have concerning participation and constructed through language and social expression. interaction. The theory emphasizes that societal discourses offer a variety of positions that While recognition and misrecognition provide a individuals can adopt. broad understanding, rights and duties offer a more nuanced view of how individuals position Positioning is viewed as an active process of themselves toward others. "doing identities" during communication, where individuals locate themselves within social relations and narratives. Citing various theorists… Positioning is inherently relational; adopting a Andreouli (2010) - identity construction involves position for oneself simultaneously involves dynamic interaction which provides various positioning others. This joint (re)production of possible identities. They construct social positions highlights the interconnectedness of identities that reflect their efforts to make them identity formation. fit in society. The concept of moral orders is integral to Yamakawa et al. (2009): Positioning Theory - positioning theory. Each position carries can be understood as “doing identities in talk”. associated rights and duties, which govern what This definition means that participants position can be expressed or enacted from that position. themselves or are positioned in different conversational locations according to changes The original positioning triangle, which connects in storylines. positions, storylines, and social forces, has been expanded into a positioning diamond. This new Since “conversations are on-going discursive model distinguishes between identities practices in which storylines and participants’ (character and group membership) and the roles are subject to change as conversations moral orders (rights and duties) linked to those evolve,” positions are not fixed or stable. identities. Recognition and Moral Orders Conclusion Identities are multiple and not singular, and they Identity construction is deeply rooted in the do not function in total isolation from each relationships between individuals (self and other. other) within a specific context. Recognition or misrecognition influences how individuals are Acknowledging multiplicity of identities: perceived regarding their knowledge and ➔ avoid drawing hasty generalizations legitimacy. Legitimacy is shaped by existing about people (stereotypes). power dynamics and social hierarchies.  ➔ balanced judgements based on wide contexts and positionalities. ➔ refrain from oversimplifying relational phenomenon as revolving around a unitary axis of similarity and difference. Joseph (2010) - identity is an intersubjective construction emerging from overlapping and complementary relationships. These relationships are shaped by similarity and difference, genuineness and artifice, and authority and delegitimacy. This perspective in turn should enable us to give space for others to negotiate their identities as we negotiate ours. In short, identity is created through complex relationships with others, involving similarities and differences, real and constructed aspects, and a constant negotiation of whether certain identities are accepted or rejected by society.