Identities and Bodies
Identities and Bodies
Freudian View of Identity
Drive theory (biology): born pleasure seeking.
Through the resolving the Oedipus conflict we come to accept external social demands
Key for the development of our gendered and sexual identities is our acceptance of taboos on sexuality
We employed all manner of defense mechanisms to meet these social demand, which is also formative of our personalities and the nuances of how we live our identities
Marxist approach to Identity
Ideology is, in principle, the key external force
The identities and consciousness it produces are empty shells (alienated)
Ideological state apparatus (school and media) are the means by which ideology is conveyed
We are interpellated by social roles; literally "called" into being and "recognized" as certain kinds of people (workers, consumers)
The Frankfurt School
Combined Freud's and Marx's insights
Growing up is about the pleasure principle giving way to the reality principle
The reality principle is informed by broader social conditions, esp. demands of capitalism
The taming and containing of sexuality into the nuclear family; men as productive and women as reproductive
Freud's cure: to enable us to love and to work
Mirror Stage (Lacan)
The child's recognition of himself as a separate being
Seeing ourselves, and imagining how other's see us
This recognition is a mis-recognition
.... We appear stable, integrate, and whole a contained body ego
This sense of wholeness is haunted by how we feel are always lacking and falling short of such completeness and coherency
Performativity
Social scripts about sexuality, gender (and other dimension of identity) are enacted
Not an actor playing an "artificial" role
There is no real identity prior to or behind the enactment
It is the constant repetitions of performance that give us the impression that there is some "core"
Sex is as culturally constructed as gender
Identities and Bodies 2
Identity as Performative
If no
Freudian View of Identity
Drive theory (biology): born pleasure seeking.
Through the resolving the Oedipus conflict we come to accept external social demands
Key for the development of our gendered and sexual identities is our acceptance of taboos on sexuality
We employed all manner of defense mechanisms to meet these social demand, which is also formative of our personalities and the nuances of how we live our identities
Marxist approach to Identity
Ideology is, in principle, the key external force
The identities and consciousness it produces are empty shells (alienated)
Ideological state apparatus (school and media) are the means by which ideology is conveyed
We are interpellated by social roles; literally "called" into being and "recognized" as certain kinds of people (workers, consumers)
The Frankfurt School
Combined Freud's and Marx's insights
Growing up is about the pleasure principle giving way to the reality principle
The reality principle is informed by broader social conditions, esp. demands of capitalism
The taming and containing of sexuality into the nuclear family; men as productive and women as reproductive
Freud's cure: to enable us to love and to work
Mirror Stage (Lacan)
The child's recognition of himself as a separate being
Seeing ourselves, and imagining how other's see us
This recognition is a mis-recognition
.... We appear stable, integrate, and whole a contained body ego
This sense of wholeness is haunted by how we feel are always lacking and falling short of such completeness and coherency
Performativity
Social scripts about sexuality, gender (and other dimension of identity) are enacted
Not an actor playing an "artificial" role
There is no real identity prior to or behind the enactment
It is the constant repetitions of performance that give us the impression that there is some "core"
Sex is as culturally constructed as gender
Identities and Bodies 2
Identity as Performative
If no