Turner, J H (2013) Contemporary Sociological Theory
New York: SAGE publishing
The seminar session was focused around this secondary text above which condenses many different broad and dense theories into a select few pages which are quite intense, therefore the session was about understanding these theories and how they can relate to ourselves and our practice as graphic designers.
The first section mainly concentrates on Stryker's theory which in its basic form indicates that human behaviour or "self" is changed by the environment surrounding them whether that be places or social constrictions. Stryker's theory suggests that people occupy parts of a structure which is set and not flexible, this means that in certain situations people will put themselves into part of this structure automatically. These structures have shared expectations which means they will "enact roles" to fit within the structure in relation to others.
Stryker's theory suggests that people see themselves as objects within a given situation and will designate themselves particular roles on the knowledge they already have on the situation. This means that people tend to perform a set of roles or identities which change depending on they must fit into a certain environment. Based on Stryker's theory this means that people see themselves from an outsiders perspective and concentrate on how they should behave in a given situation and not necessarily how they want themselves to be. When particular roles are used more than once and they receive praise this is when a repetitive use of a particular role is used and therefore it becomes natural for us as people to think we must behave in a certain way to gain praise. This means that we learn what identity to adopt in certain situations making us fully aware that we can change the role we are acting and that we are aware we can play different versions of ourselves. The salience hierarchy is a formal way of suggesting that we have identities which work extremely well in given situations, and through the praise we receive and the idea that we learn we can change our identity the more popular choices of roles are used often and therefore are placed higher in the person's hierarchy.
The second part is based on George J McCall and J L Simmons' theory of identity which contrasts Stryker's viewpoint and opinions due to the idea that McCall and Simmons' believe identities are improvised based on an individuals plans and goals in social situations rather than identities being formed by structures and social hierarchies like in Stryker's theory.
McCall and Simmons' theory suggests that a person would consider their identity through the eyes of others and evaluate themselves continuously, which means that the individual is changing their own identity rather than like in Stryker's opinion the environment changing themselves. People evaluate their role performances based on how they act in relation to who they truly believe to be their true self. "The most important audiences for a role performance are the individuals themselves" this suggests that their performance of self is more important to themselves than to be accepted within a structure.
The roles than an individual will perform are always evaluated depending on how well they are perceived by others and if the correct message they are trying to portray is also the same as the audience is receiving. The role performances is based on an ideal version of themselves and when this is not received well there will always be some form of dissatisfaction when they evaluate themselves because the individual sees it as important to be accept by others and for others to accept their identities. Due to the nature of our idealised self appointed roles there is always room for different interpretation as an individuals identity is completely subjective, people will view the same person differently.
Our behaviour is affected by our chosen identity on who we choose to be. The continuous self evaluation relies heavily on a range of different mechanisms where it starts by not being completely accepted through their role to switching to interact with other who do give positive feedback on their version of self. Through these different mechanisms people learn to be cautious and they cannot be so open with their true versions of self within certain social situations.
Graphic Design can be informed by these different theories because it affects branding and the identity of companies. Design affects the world from a visual perspective and they do dictate a large amount of the representations of companies and people/ social groups through advertising and branding. Typefaces and colours are stereotyped as being viewed in a certain way and this therefore means that brands and design is artificially created to conform to these stereotypes. Brands continuously change depending on how they want to be viewed and how the audience views themselves. Branding is a form of an identity which pushes a certain set of beliefs and visuals that portray the company in a particular way this is similar to the role performance of people within the theories looked at above because brands change and decide how they want to be seen as versions of "self". People who purchase items from particular brands choose to do so because they buy into the idea of an identity or set of beliefs which suit their own this therefore means that when they buy these products they believe it will reinforce their own identities.
Reflect and summarise the session in 300-500 words, discuss similarities and connections between interactionist identity theory and psychoanalysis (ego ideal, desire freud/lacan), ID ego and the mirror stage (self objectification).
The interactionist theories I have previously looked at in some respects do connect well with the psychoanalytical theories of Freud and Lacan. The first being based on ID, ego and superego, the ID is the fundamentals of a humans wants is based on the idea that a child has a set of basic needs which fuel the irrational part of the brain therefore making it seem natural for us to want to have our needs met as adults. The ID part of this theory relates to McCall and Simmons' theory because it is based on an individuals wants from a social situation this links because we tend to socialise and take part within environments which benefit ourselves and the ideal self who we believe we are. The ego part of Freud's theory is based on the idea that you cannot always receive what you wish and society or environments don't necessarily always work in your favour which is more realistic than the ID. The ego denies the instant gratification of the needs of the ID and thinks about the long term affects on the mind in terms of being happy and compromising selfishness. The ego relates to that of Stryker's theory because it suggests that the environment around the individual changes the perceptions of themselves and how they should behave. The third part of this is the superego which relates to the interactionist theories previously studied. The superego is split into two with the first part being the ego ideal which provides rules and standards to live up to this relates to McCall and Simmons' theory because we put ourselves under pressure to perform our ideal self. The conscience part of the superego is similar to Stryker's theory because it suggests there are social and environmental factors as to why we must behave in a certain way whether that be in a professional environment or due to parents and cultural factors.
Lacan's theory based on the idea of "desire" links incredibly well to Stryker's theory because they share the same perceptions of self based on the environments surrounding it. Lacan's theory suggests that we continuously want recognition of others and to fit in, much like Stryker's opinion based on structures. Lacan also suggests that we depend on others for this recognition and therefore as people we strive to be wanted and liked based on others opinions of ourselves, again this links to Stryker's opinion because it continuously reinforces the idea that we play a role to suit others and not ourselves like McCall and Simmons' suggest.
The final theory is that of the mirror stage, this theory suggests that children, mainly infants, will reach a stage where they understand what it means to be "I". This realisation of a sense of "I" builds into the idea of an identity and sense of self. Although this realisation begins at childhood it is the initial idea which develops throughout life and created an environment mentally where we question what it means to be "I". This links back to McCall and Simmons' theory because it suggests that much like their theory we constantly strive to seek what is our true selves through self reflection and objectifying ourselves within social situations through continuous evaluation based upon how we behave in a given situation.
The interactionist theories I have previously looked at in some respects do connect well with the psychoanalytical theories of Freud and Lacan. The first being based on ID, ego and superego, the ID is the fundamentals of a humans wants is based on the idea that a child has a set of basic needs which fuel the irrational part of the brain therefore making it seem natural for us to want to have our needs met as adults. The ID part of this theory relates to McCall and Simmons' theory because it is based on an individuals wants from a social situation this links because we tend to socialise and take part within environments which benefit ourselves and the ideal self who we believe we are. The ego part of Freud's theory is based on the idea that you cannot always receive what you wish and society or environments don't necessarily always work in your favour which is more realistic than the ID. The ego denies the instant gratification of the needs of the ID and thinks about the long term affects on the mind in terms of being happy and compromising selfishness. The ego relates to that of Stryker's theory because it suggests that the environment around the individual changes the perceptions of themselves and how they should behave. The third part of this is the superego which relates to the interactionist theories previously studied. The superego is split into two with the first part being the ego ideal which provides rules and standards to live up to this relates to McCall and Simmons' theory because we put ourselves under pressure to perform our ideal self. The conscience part of the superego is similar to Stryker's theory because it suggests there are social and environmental factors as to why we must behave in a certain way whether that be in a professional environment or due to parents and cultural factors.
Lacan's theory based on the idea of "desire" links incredibly well to Stryker's theory because they share the same perceptions of self based on the environments surrounding it. Lacan's theory suggests that we continuously want recognition of others and to fit in, much like Stryker's opinion based on structures. Lacan also suggests that we depend on others for this recognition and therefore as people we strive to be wanted and liked based on others opinions of ourselves, again this links to Stryker's opinion because it continuously reinforces the idea that we play a role to suit others and not ourselves like McCall and Simmons' suggest.
The final theory is that of the mirror stage, this theory suggests that children, mainly infants, will reach a stage where they understand what it means to be "I". This realisation of a sense of "I" builds into the idea of an identity and sense of self. Although this realisation begins at childhood it is the initial idea which develops throughout life and created an environment mentally where we question what it means to be "I". This links back to McCall and Simmons' theory because it suggests that much like their theory we constantly strive to seek what is our true selves through self reflection and objectifying ourselves within social situations through continuous evaluation based upon how we behave in a given situation.
No comments:
Post a Comment