'Who Are You? What Can Social Science Tell Us?'

1. What are the processes that George Herbert Mead argues link the personal to the external?

He argued that we must see ourselves from the outside so we must be self conscious and imagine what we look like from others perspectives. An example is imagining a job interview beforehand and thinking of aspects like what to wear in terms of how comfortable you are and the formality. That way, we can imagine ourselves from outsider's point of view. This links the personal to the external.

2. What is Mead referring to when he uses the term "symbolizing"?

He's referring to the identities being produced in a social context but through individuals thinking about what links them to the social world. Also, in our use of language, words operate as symbols. Pictures, images and gestures do as well because they represent something else. For example, the word 'table' represents a table. It causes us to think about the table.

3. What is happening when we visualise ourselves?

We are looking at ourselves from an external perspective. We symbolize the kind of person we want others to think we are and see us in a certain way. For example, we can visualise the job interview going terrible or going extremely well.

4. How do we "signal" our identities to others?

Symbols and representations are important in the production of identities. How we speak, the clothes we wear so uniforms, badges and scarves etc. Everything we do signals our identities because it's who we are.

5. What 'choice' does Judith Williamson argue that we have?

She suggests that we can choose the image that we present to others. She assumes we have a choice that other people will understand. In different cultures, choices will be interpreted in different ways so, for example, the clothes we wear will be seen in diverse ways depending on the context.

6. How do Mead's and Williamson's arguments develop our understanding of identity?

Their arguments about the approach to the notion of identity put more emphasis on the control individuals have rather than the constraints which they experience. We establish our identities to others through symbols and visuals.

7. What conclusions does Erving Goffman reach in his analysis of everyday interaction, conversations and encounters? What theoretical argument does he offer as a result?

He suggested that how we present ourselves to others was like acting out a part in a play where the scripts are already written. He focuses on roles rather than actual identities. Furthermore, he's based most of his work on the theatrical metaphor so we act out many different roles. He stated in his book, 'The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life', that perspective on the self is dramaturgical, based on the idea of performance. Patterns of behaviour, routines and responses are what we're born into within society.

8. How is Goffman's 'presentation of self' different from "investing in an identity"?

"investing in an identity" is having personal commitment to a particular identity. 'Presentation of Self' gives more detail about how we read people and about how we get the message about "who they are".

9. Not all of our actions are conscious or explicit. What is the consequence of this?

The consequences are that we sometimes reveal more about ourselves unintentionally. Information might be conveyed inadvertently. An example of this is giving off an impression of anxiety whilst attempting to give a confident performance.

10. How do Goffman's arguments develop our understanding of the social dimensions of identity and the relationship between identity and roles?

His emphasis is on the social dimensions of identity and the relationship between identity, with its concern with social investment, and roles which tell us more about the social aspects and social exchanges between people. This develops understanding, suggesting there are links between society in which we live and the limitations offered by the roles we play. Overall, there is a scope for agency because those who play the parts can improvise and offer their own interpretation.

11. What is the Freudian unconscious?

Freud's psychoanalytic theory, which is passed into everyday language in Western society through popular culture and the advertising industry. Also, Freudian slips can possibly reveal hidden desires. One of the examples that's given is from a handwritten essay, a student wrote "of coffee" instead of "of course" which discreetly indicated they needed a break.

12. How according to Freud does identity emerge?

According to Freud, identity emerges from experiences we may have encountered as a child. Also, it emerges from identifications, which combine so there's never one, fixed, coherent identity.

13. What is signified by the term "identification" when used in the context of psychoanalysis?

Identification is often associated with psychoanalysis where it doesn't just involve copying, it involves taking a certain identity into yourself.

14. What impacts can sex, sexuality and gender have on identity?

Gender and sexuality our important to our understanding of identity as it's a sense of who we are. Sexual desires can be repressed into the unconscious which could eventually shape our identites in some way.

15. What implications do Freud's theories have for exploration of identity?

Focusing on the unconscious adds to our understanding of the processes at work in the formation of identities. Decisions we make as adults can be affected by our childhood. In addition, there are ways of resolving repression, most notably therapy.