Foucault, Consumerism, and Identity
Michel Foucault presents those revolutionary sorts of analyses that are rich not only for their content but for their implications and novel methodological approach. Just beyond the surface of his works lies such philosophical wealth that one can be overwhelmed by considerations of which vein to mine first, and what to make of the elements therefrom extracted.
I’ve broken earth in several attractive sites this last week. Some, it seemed, hid their treasures too deep for the scope of this excavation. Some presented me with granite barriers which I do not yet have the tools to penetrate. At other sites, the earth gave way easily and I made great progress, only to be flooded out. Finally, at the fifteenth hour, I have struck something shiny.
I wish to use Foucault’s accounts of socialisation, categorisation, and discipline, as the background for my analysis of a modern entity I call the “identity package.” I will define this concept and show how it fits into and is suggested by Foucault’s works. Following this I will deal briefly with supposed problems with Foucault’s account (or lack of an account) of subjectivity.
Narrative gives coherence to a life. Particular episodes make sense in light of a uniting theme. The simplistic world view of the Middle Ages left people satisfied with fairly simple narratives. One knew their personal obligations and had a vague idea of how they fit into the systems of king and God.
For the sovereign and the elite, their special status was confirmed in ceremony and artistic representations.1[1] The masses were unrepresented. The lack of demand for empowerment or change may be partly due to the fact t...
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...of this system.
The process of categorisation seems to have an assimilative function. If you can’t beat them, label them. If it fits into our picture, it is ours. Put this way, it seems like we are imprisoned in a menacing matrix of metaphysical manipulation. However, as I have shown to be the case in pop culture, we are complicit in our captivity, in fact, all too willing to participate.
1[1]Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish, tr.Alan Sheridan (New York: Vintage,1995) p.192
2[2]With an increase in bureaucracy came an increase in the importance of meticulous knowledge; with this, more power and a more distinct role for the researcher.
3[3]Modern advertising calls this “appeal to a certain demographic”.
4[4]Quoted in: Michael Clifford, Politcal Genealogy After Foucault, (New York: Routledge, 2001) p.99
Identity is an important theme in many stories. Especially in the The Outsiders, Eleanor and Park, and“Flowers for Algernon.” In The Outsiders identity is tied heavily to which gang a person belongs to. In the novel, Eleanor and Park, identity is portrayed through gender and race. Also, in the short story, “Flowers for Algernon,” the main character identifies with his level of intelligence. Although, one common trend expressed is how jubilance is felt when the characters are free of how they are told they should identify. I will be analysing identity in these stories is represented through the characters, and how this proves how easily the characters find identify in themselves when they detach how they are to identify by society.
A narrative is specified to amuse, to attract, and grasp a reader’s attention. The types of narratives are fictitious, real or unification or both. However, they may consist of folk tale stories, mysteries, science fiction; romances, horror stories, adventure stories, fables, myths and legends, historical narratives, ballads, slice of life, and personal experience (“Narrative,” 2008). Therefore, narrative text has five shared elements. These are setting, characters, plot, theme, and vocabulary (“Narrative and Informational Text,” 2008). Narrative literature is originally written to communicate a story. Therefore, narrative literature that is written in an excellent way will have conflicts and can discuss shared aspects of human occurrence.
In his 1971 paper “Personal Identity”, Derek Parfit posits that it is possible and indeed desirable to free important questions from presuppositions about personal identity without losing all that matters. In working out how to do so, Parfit comes to the conclusion that “the question about identity has no importance” (Parfit, 1971, p. 4.2:3). In this essay, I will attempt to show that Parfit’s thesis is a valid one, with positive implications for human behaviour. The first section of the essay will examine the thesis in further detail and the second will assess how Parfit’s claims fare in the face of criticism.
SAINATI, TATIANA E. "Toward A Comparative Approach To The Crime Of Genocide." Duke Law Journal 62.1 (2012): 161-202. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Nov. 2013
Caroline and Jennifer said that ‘Market segmentation is a crucial marketing strategy. Its aim is to identify and delineate market segments or set of buyers which would then become targets for the company’s marketing plans.’ (Tynan and Drayton, 1987) There are many ways to segment the market, such as age, region, environment, psychology and wages (Hall, Jones and Raffo, 2010).
Rodgers, W,S. (2003). Selves and Identities. In: Social Psychology: Experimental and critical approaches. Maidenhead,GB: Open University Press/McGraw Hill. 229-240.
7. la Tournier, O. Y. ed. (1988) The Reality of Defining characteristic: Semanticist pretextual theory and cultural
1. Growing up we all heard stories. Different types of stories, some so realistic, we cling onto them farther into our lives. Stories let us see and even feel the world in different prespectives, and this is becuase of the writter or story teller. We learn, survive and entertain our selves using past experiences, which are in present shared as stories. This is why Roger Rosenblatt said, "We are a narrative species."
In December 1948, the then members of the United Nations General Assembly, without contention, passed the Convention on Genocide. It defined what the crime of genocide entailed and that it was an act to be prevented and its perpetrators punished. It has been 66 years since then and we have not been able to fulfill this promise - shattering its very principles time and time again - in places such as Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda or Darfur. Man - a supposedly civilized species - has not been able to resist the urge to systematically destroy the 'undesirable' members of a society. There has been and always will be characteristics which define and divide us - race, religion, caste and culture, among others. Classification is the first and ever-present stage of genocide - there will always be an "us" and a proverbial "them". Although prejudice is human nature and may be pardonable, acting upon prejudice is not.
The importance of a story is to have a purpose and meaning, through this, people are able to engage and learn with what is being told to them, it has to have a connection to the past, bringing it to the present and to involve both the body and mind senses. Through storytelling the audience should gain an understanding and have a sense of emotion touched and come alive, they should also be able to explore the possibilities within their culture and feel a deep connection to country.
This personal narrative is attained only because of the important role History plays in tying these factors together. In order for one to relate identity to difference using the dialogical method, he/she must “position [themselves] somewhere in order to say anything at all.” This position is attained through an understanding of history; a history which...
Snow, David. “Collective Identity and Expressive Forms.” University of California, Irvine eScholarship Repository 26.7 (2009) . Print.
Every detail within the story has some sort of meaning and is there for a
“The third reason: Stories help us to see through the eyes of the other people.” - Scott Russell Sanders, The Most Human Art. In my eyes the explanation for this reason is to fathom another life other than your own. Sanders explains how a storyteller can become anyone or anything. The audience then follows in their own mind seeing through the eyes of another. It is to plunge into another's life and swim in their own waters. Every Life is so different and the most wonderful way to communicate and share a lifetime is through stories. The third reason is significant to me because you never know someone truly unless you understand their story. How ever much you might love and adore someone, you will never truly know them until you’ve swam the ocean of him or her. When you
Rihanna in her childhood was inspired by Bob Marley, Madonna, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey. This reflected most in her very first single “Pon de Replay”, which was a reggae inspired dance track, immediately hitting the top 2 on billboard singles chart. The song not only reached a second place but also shout out to the world: Rihanna is coming! It was 2005, the year she kick