In this weeks lecture we looked at theories of identity and what makes people the way they are.
We looked into;
Essentialism.
The theory that it is our biological make up that makes us and our identity.
Physiognomy.
This theory was a very racist one, that stated intelligence was related to the shape of peoples faces. Here you can see the further from the typical white man to stereotypical black mans face supposedly decreased in intelligence. This is a theory I find ridiculous and offensive.
Phrenology
This was the idea that different part of the brain and their size influenced what makes up our identity.
Cesare Lambroso, (1835 - 1909) was the founder of positive criminology - the notion that criminal tendencies were inherited.
Pre-modern identity
This determined that it was institutions that determined a persons identity.
Modern identity
Here were taught how Charles Baudelaire introduced Flaneur; How gentlemen would stroll around cities to see and be seen, in their fashionable clothes and expensive gear, to enhance their perception that they are superior to others. Similarly Thorstein Veblen told of conspicuous consumption, the display of wealth by the rich through clothing and accessories. Georg Simninal came up with the 'Trickle down' theory. This was that the rich would wear expensive clothes, and the middle class would try to copy that, as they were influenced by them and aspired to be like them, so they would buy cheaper copies of the same clothes. However, because the rich upper class wanted to be seen as superior and differentiate themselves from them, they would buy other expensive items, and so the cycle continued. This is fashion.
Post modern identity
The final theory used the discourse analysis, (founded by Micheal Foucault,) who said identity could be constructed out of the discourses culturally available to us. Discourses could be related to age, class, gender, nationality, race/ethnicity, education, sexual orientation, income, e.c.t.
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