Do We Live In A Confessional Culture Analysis

Do We Live in a Confessional Culture? How the Act of Confession Shapes Identity

The prevalence of confessional culture is a contentious aspect of tabloidization in the media. It has been condemned by many cultural critics because of its degrading nature. This essay addresses the circumstance of confessional culture by seeking to show that the practice of public confession forms identity, rather than reveals it. Taking the coming out story as a primary example, I hope to demonstrate that the act of coming out interpellates an individual through a socially acceptable model of confession, counseling, and acceptance. Two examples from popular media, Ellen and Bad Girls, will be discussed as a way to demonstrate the theorectical basis surrounding

Presupposing the presence of a secret creates a formula in which the secret must be concealed in order to free and reveal it. This is a self-regenerative movel in which a secret is required in order to reveal that which is secret. Such a structure creates a social situation that requires otherness and deviance in order to declare and continually reinstate its own normativity. As it has been suggested, “In the rush to redress the historial prejudice against gay people, we’re missing a key opportunity as a society tocritically address our uneasy relationship with sexual diversity as a whole” (Bering, 2013: xvii). In modern society, the culture of confession is carried out in ritualistic displays which has become widespread and set in within plots of everyday life. This trope is entrenched in relationships concerning the family, the church, work and policing. In each case, the confessional model is employed as the focus point that allows the expression of authority over the individual. However, the confession concerns not simply confessing an act, but includes a confession to all the notions, enthusiasms, impressions and desires that supplement the act. The enormous act of confession is supplemented by an equally enormous effort to record that which is

The study of confessional culture brings up the question of identity in general. After all, confessional culture forms the basis for cultural exclusions. In relation to cultural identity, confessional culture is important because it shows how a common confessional culture adapts to cultural norms. In the case of Foucault’s work, confessional culture adapts to the process of standardization. However, confessional culture lacks an analysis of specific authoritative forces, which causes individuals to feel certain strong attachments to particular lifestyles. Thus, human emotions and imaginations have to be considered in the construction of confessional culture by taking gender variations into account. As Foucault has shown, power structures acknowledge that while some individuals are in the privileged position of being able to acknowledge their identity, others are not. The way an individual imagines the ways of the world and the existence of others are central to the creation of identity, which in turn forms the basis for confession. Confession is a deeply embedded western cultural ritual on which the truth depends. It is a completely closed process that acheives resolution through absolution and regulation. This means that a confession tries to