NOTIONS OF IDENTITY - TRADITIONAL VS MODERN

- explanation with reference to ideas of douglas kellner - Article - "Popular Culture and Construction of Postmodern Identities"

As already discussed in post 3, in traditional societies or let’s say pre-modern society’s issue of identity was not subjected to so much reflection. It was relatively fixed and subject to limits of thought and behaviour based on traditional system of myths.

Now when does the question of reflection comes? It comes when you have something to compare yourself with. Everyone has the right to choose, but it’s only possible when you have options. The availability of options comes from the fact how broad your horizon is.

With the modern innovations and discoveries (e.g mass media) horizon for an individual really got expanded. In the words of Douglas Kellner, “In modernity, identity becomes more mobile, multiple, personal, self – reflexive, and subject to change and innovation. Yet identity in modernity is also social and Other – related.”

Taking an example, one is a mother, son, Indian, Asian, a professor, a politician a priest – or rather a combination of these social roles and possibilities. So, in the modern condition also, identities are relatively fixed and limited, but boundaries of possible new identities or probable ones are continually expanding. Here comes the difference between premodern/ modern societies.

For the second point, identity being social and other- related, we need to focus on the point that the modern self is undergoing through constant ever changing experiences. Like a traditional society, modern society also has a structure based on norms and customs though in overall it  forms a very complex web.

Now for a person to choose one’s identity from this complex web of possible identities , he/ she needs to appropriate and reproduce it in order to gain recognition This process of mutual recognition is complex as one’s identity is depended on other for recognition after which it undergoes self – validation to assume a stable, recognized identity.

Explanations forming the core of how we look at ourselves and how others look at us tend to be hidden under years and years of our social training and conditioning.