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Review
Media gender and identity has been a useful book for me throughout all my literature assignments at university. Gauntlett cleverly explains theoretical ideas in ways that’s easy to understand. however it is clear that this book is an 'introduction' as it doesn't seem to go into a great deal of detail when talking about theories, and instead requires you to look into the ideas expressed in more detail.
The ideas about masculinity and femininity had a good back knowledge to accompany them and were backed up by some very useful theories. i tend to use this book for most of my essays and will continue to in the future. Gauntletts way of explaining things seems to be something i can easily understand and add my own ideas to.
Tags: identity
Media, Gender and Identity Review
I chose to read the second edition of this book which was in fact revised and published in 2008, and due to this, I found the text much easier to relate to. Gauntlett has achieved something here that no previous media theorist has done before, and that is to actually engage me in an entire theory book, cover to cover. His writing style is charming and spoke to me as an audience, as well as his use of case studies throughout the book.For example, his references to popular culture television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ugly Betty and magazines such as Cosmopolitan.
Gauntlett states that "In this book I have sought to argue, and demonstrate, that popular media has a significant but not straightforward relationship with people's sense of gender and identity" (Gauntlett, D. p.288). Gauntlett does exactly this in his book, giving a fantastic overview of all relevant arguments and supporting each with a celebrated theorists, which I found helpful in expanding my knowledge of theory, and through this, it gives the reader the tools to also form their own opinions on each subjects. The variation of topics covered also raises a lot of the reader’s own questions in relation to identity (specifically), which is helpful when researching for an essay.
Overall, I thought that this book was a fantastic and modern beginning to the subject of media, gender and identity, and you will come away not only much more interested in and knowledgeable on the subject, but with a greater understanding of how your own identity is formed and affected by the media, your sexuality, race and gender. 5 stars :)
In depth information on the Psychological Consequences of CMC
This book offers a wide range of case studies and information on the consequences of online interaction. Chapters focus on topics including Sexuality, Behaviour, Relationships and Depression, detailing numerous findings in each section.
From a Media Student's point of view, this book is a pretty heavy read, as usuable theories are embedded in confusing words and psychology phrases. I assume that this book is intended for someone majoring in Psychology or Sociology. Even so, the book provide me with more than another to include in my unit essay.
I found the chapter entitled Self Online: Personality and Demographic Implications particularly helpful, especially the New Ways of Thinking About Identity. This introduced me to Suler's 6 disinhibition theory, which is a major idea behind with people act differently when online.
I'd definitely recommend spending time working your way through a few of the chapters in this book - It may be slightly heavy going for a media student, but the theories you will get out of it are so helpful.
Tags: behaviour disinhibition identity online
Jason Wyatt's book review
Well this book has all ready been reviewed but here is my take on things….
Richard Jenkins certainty shows that he knows what he is on about in ‘Social Identity’. In this book that identity can be seen from multiple angles, and that social identity varies on the individual and the social collective.
I feel that Jenkins got his point across in regard to ‘internal-external dialectic is the fundamental link between the individual and collective identities’. That regardless of the similarity and differences between individual and social identity one cannot be with out the other. To argue this thesis Jenkins quotes works from Mead, Goffman and Barthes.
Theories about both individual and social identity are shown in ‘real life’ examples, which makes then easy to relate to and understand.
One example in particular that how one piece of a persons identity could over shadow the rest of the person and determine how they are treated due to views of a social collective at the time e.g. being a Jew in 1937 in Germany, or 2007 in Israel.
It is by far one of the most complete texts on the subject of identity and is up to date with theories on social networking site and online communities. However I do feel like I needed to have a bit of background knowledge on the works of Goffman and Brathes in particular. As a result some parts were more difficult to read then others.
Overall this book is interesting it was and I do feel that I have got something out of it. I would recommend it however it is not light reading.
Tags: identity media participation
reivew
My internet presence doesnt extend much further than my page on facebook. To be honest i wasn't even very aware that such huge all consuming online communities really existed.
thus i found this book fascinating as an introduction to these worlds, using Second life as an example. It covers many aspects of life within the community from starting out, and how people find their footing, through to issues of racism and even sexual deviancy within the world.
One of the reasons the book was so enjoyable was because it was written from an anthropological perspective, so it didn't jump into issues in a overly complicated way, but it also didn't patronise the reader for any lack of previous knowledge. It was written to encompass both outsiders, and users.
What was most fascinating was how the book revealed the way these communities work. People fall in love, people partake in illustrious sex lives, there are second life 'terrorists', its an entire alternate culture. I wanted to join it, start a new life within the virtual world, especially towards the beginning of the book, and have secret relationships with what i hoped were women. But as the book progressed, the potential of second life became less appealing, as that virtual woman avatar that i was having my secret internet affair would be turn out to be a man, and break my heart, and stop logging on, leaving me stuck, desparate and lonely in a scary virtual dystopia.
What i found to be most interesting of this book, which was the reason for which i bought the book, was the content on identity, as he discussed how peoples second life avatar differed from their real life controlling users, and the effects this had. The general stance of the book was that virtual and actual world personas were of equal importance, as it described the virtual world as though it were simply another country within this world, which i think certainly added to the strength of the anthropological analysis
Would definitely recommend
The World of Conventions for Online Gamers
This book takes the reader on a journey through online gaming into offline conventions. She introduces readers to her first convention and how identity tourism from players change, and meeting them for the first time. Through interviews and personal experience, she gives an insight into the gaming world that portrays it for the rich, complex, social world that it is. A gamer herself, Taylor does an excellent job shining new light on the "frowned upon" gaming world. She also goes beyond the gaming world to show how things are connected through the internet and "in real life" to things within the game.
It gives people who have never played online games and been to conventions an academic point of view; where people would normally have an image of a teenage boy in a dark room playing online for hours on end, she has turned it into something exciting and new.
Review
'Life on the screen' was a very interesting read and an invaluable material during the research process regarding my essay for Media and Participation. Written in a simple to understand way, Turkle successfully describes the history and psychology behind online role-playing games, online chat rooms and how the Internet has impacted all our lives. Although slightly out of date in some parts due to the publishing date of 1997, the majority of the content is still very relevent to today's society, perhaps even more so as the culture of the Internet has exploded in the last 10 years.
Turkle puts across interesting arguments about the way people play MUD games (Multi-User Domains) and these theories can be used for newer versions of MUDs such as role-playing games like 'Second Life' and even 'The Sims'. The book also comments on the role of identity online which is a dynamic and varied subject, presenting the issue of inventing new personalities and the loss of the single identity.
This book is ideal for research into the way people present themselves as well as the development into online gaming and media participation.
Tom Abbotts book review
'Social Identity' was a great book to read, although i found it not an easy read, it was very interesting to look at what makes up a persons identity. The book tells us that social identity must be seen as both individual and collective. Jenkins highlights works from Mead, Goffman and Barthes to explore the experience of identity in everyday life. The major concepts covered are; embodiment, social groups and social categories, difference and community, categorisation and resistance.
The book talks the reader through various scenarios to exemplify social identity in everyday life. Using these scenarios i found it relatively easy to understand the connections Jenkins was making, and the importance of identity and what it means. Jenkins continues to show throughout that without social identity there is no society, makes sense.
"Mead suggests that we cannot see ourselves at all without also seeing ourselves as other people see us" pg21
The book looks at the difference and similarities between individual identity and social identity, and argues that one cannot exist without the other. Jenkins central thesis is that the internal-external dialectic is the fundamental link between individual and collective identities. I recommend this book if you want to know the difference between fact and historic fiction of what it is to be human and how this implies in modern society. This book was far more informative than any other 'identity' text I have come across. I have found this books readings very true in everyday life analysing it in new social community sites like 'Facebook', it has been a great learning tool.
Some interesting parts i remember from the book are like; the meanings of the word self, parallel the meanings of identity, core features of similarity, difference, reflexivity and process
Also my favorite and most memorable quote by far, and my opening line for my essay based on identity is;
"It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence but their social existence that determines their consciousness"
Tags: anthropology barthes goffman identity mead social sociology
Story as a way of understanding the world
Here are some key points from the chapter on 'Narrative Knowing':
* Narrative is a window onto the story-teller’s landscape of consciousness
* We all have a kind of personal myth
* We are made up of a community of selves
* Narrative has sequentiality which implies a future
* Narratives help us to reconcile the ‘exceptional’ and the ‘expected’
* The re-telling of stories is a problem-solving technique
* Narratives have morals
* Narratives are always socially constructed
* Narratives are liminal
* Narratives are ambiguous
* Narrative is cathartic
* Our ongoing personal narratives are co-constructed
* Narratives often arise around sites of social conflict
Tags: catharsis identity liminoid narrative narratives-5 social story storytelling therapy
Active Self
quote: "The self is not an entity but an activity. Self-consciousness ... is both theoretical (inasmuch as it is knowledge) and practical (inasmuch as it is activity)."
So Gorner can help to tie in transcendental idealism in the German tradition to the modernist reflexive project of the self.
Tags: idealism identity philosophy self