Practice Questions

Dear class,

Below are some practice questions. Please post practice answers so that we actively create an additional class study guide. I will be able to give feedback ad advice as you do so. Also, please ask questions and raise any concerns that you might have. The exam will be comprised of short answer questions and extended essay questions.


Short Answer Questions

1. Define identity

2. What are classificatory systems? Give an example of a social classification.

3. Outline Hall’s 3 concepts of identity

Study hint:
Enlightenment subject

The sociological subject

The Fragmented subject

4. If essentialists consider cultural symbols to be expressive of a preformed identity, how do anti-essentialists consider the relationship between symbols and identity?

Study hint: anti-essentialists think that identity is socially constructed and they argue that symbols are drawn upon to create identity. Thus, symbols do not express identity, on the contrary, they help to MAKE identity.

5. In what ways is identity ‘relational’?

Study hint: identities gather meaning in relation to other identities; that is, through their difference to other identities. For example, the symbolic systems used to define masculinity are the binary opposite to those symbols used to define femininity. Strong/Weak, Rational/Emotional, etc.

6. In what way are constructions of identity ‘ideological’?


Extended Essay Questions

1. Benedict Anderson describes nations as ‘imagined communities’. Explain what he meant by this term and outline how we actively imagine American identity.

Study hints: consider how we participate in this imagining, from the symbols which mark out US culture to the rituals of raising a flag, swearing allegiance, using pronouns such as ‘we’ which help us to imagine we are part of a collective community. Also, think about systems of representation which help create the idea of the nation: from political rhetoric to national newspapers which have sections dedicated to national news, etc.

2. Drawing on either an anti-essentialist or essentialist perspective, describe how your own identity is made/expressed through cultural symbols, and consider how they position you in society in relation to other identities.

Study hints: be very clear whether you’re arguing from an anti-essentialist or essentialist perspective, and be sure to use consistent language throughout. For example, if anti-essentialism is your conceptual framework, make sure you use words like construct and create rather that express or essence.

3. The documentary The Ad and the Ego makes clear that cultural artifacts including clothing, music, food, and more, are loaded with meaning. Examine how identification with these material objects symbolically positions ‘us’ in society.


4.View the following Ad and consider what identity identity positions are being produced and what meanings are being assigned to certain identities through this system of representation. You should do so with reference to the circuit of culture.

Me and the Media

We've been discussing and exploring the differences between essentialism and anti-essentialism. The following theorizations offer a way for us to break this down even more. The first is an essentialist conception of identity, the latter two, in different though overlapping ways, are anti-essentialist conceptions. Read through them and think about how each perspective would consider how symbols relate to the self, to identity.

The enlightenment subject or Cartesian subject – a conscious and unified subject. Humans are centred and unified – in that they have constant characteristics, something innate which grounds them. That essence – or characteristic – would remain the same across time and culture… for instance: an essence of maleness grounds somebody in their gendered identity; a spirit of Englishness gives someone a bounded and unchanging English identity…

The sociological subject – the human being is created through the internalisation of social norms which ensures that they ‘fit’ in with the social structure – the person is thought to have an inner core – but that inner core is created through an interaction between the inside and outside world. They have a unified identity – kept in check by coordinating what they internalise – which lends unity

The fragmented self stands in contrast to the above conceptualisations. The self is continually shifting and changing – often in contradictory ways. We are pulled in different directions and so are our identities. If we have a sense of unity it is because we delude ourselves – or tell ourselves a comforting story or narrative of the ‘self’. No single aspect offers us a stable identity – because our identities shift according to how we’re being addressed or represented. We comprise multiple identities which are dislocated and fractured. The apparent unity is merely an assertion or articulation – which under different historical and cultural circumstances would be articulated in a different way: such as masculinity, sexuality, even what music we like….



More essentialist thinkers consider symbols to be expressive of a pre-formed identity. On the hand, anti-essentialists suggest that we actively draw on symbols to create and construct identity. Indeed, with technological innovation we can even create a different biological reality for ourselves... Biology, understood in these terms, is symbolic, and like all symbols they h

elp to create a self. Thinking of symbols broadly (anything which articulates meaning, and that includes, of course, language) consider how you construct identity. In doing so, think about what symbols you're invited to identify with (even though this is largely an unconscious process), and thus what identity positions you're invited to identify with.

1) Do any of the above perspectives resonate with you? Does identity feel like something you express or something you construct?

2) When postmodernists say: 'I buy, therefore I am', what do you think they are suggesting about consumption and identity... examples of your own experience would be be valued.

3) In what way is identity a process of becoming? and what role does media play in your own becoming?

4) If identity is always linked to cultural symbols and language, is identity ever unique in the way we generally understand it to be?

Identity in the News: Obama and Race

It's Super Primary day, and so for this week's blog we're going to be thinking about identity in the news related to the 'race' (pun not intended). Clinton's gender identity and Obama's racial identity are big news in this primary race, suggesting that this identity really matters in the US.

Go to the following link and read the Slate article while thinking about the questions below. Please post your comment.

http://www.slate.com/id/2181460

1. Why do you think 'race' matters so much in this election?

2. Does it suggest that we view identity in essentialist or anti-essentialist terms?

3. What does it mean when commentators and pundits talk about securing the 'black', 'Latino', 'white' vote? What IS the black, Latino, White vote? What makes these 'collective identities' and are they really collective identities or do we just imagine them to be?

4. What do you think? Should race/gender matter?