- ESSENTIALISM
-Biological make up is who we are
- We have an 'inner essence'
- POST MODERN THEORIST DISAGREE
-anti-essentialists
Pre-modern Identity = Institutions, Church/Government etc determined identity.
Modern Identity 19th and early 20th Century - (Theorists)
-Charles Baudelaire - The Painter of Modern Life (Introduces concept of 'gentleman stroller')
-Thorstein Veblen - Theory of the Leisure Class
Georg Simmel - The Metropolis and Mental Life (the 'Mask of Fashion)
'The feeling of isolation is rarely as decisive and intense when one actually finds oneself physically alone, as when one is a stranger without relations, among many physically close persons, at a party, on the train, or in the traffic of a large city' - Simmel
(This links to the idea of cities swallowing people and creating isolation despite vast amounts of people)
Simmel suggests people withdraw into themselves to find peace. (Due to the noise of the modern world)
Post modern theory - 'Identity is constructed through social experience'
"If I put up a flattering picture of myself with a list of my favourite things, I can construct an artificial representation of who I am in order to get sex or approval. ('I like Facebook,' said another friend. 'I got a shag out if i')" - Tom Hodgkinson (2008), 'With friends like these...'. Guardian, 14/01/08
Virtual communities and spaces create the illusion of intimacy and a pretence of identity ( as people can choose what is shared etc)
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