Abbreviated help on Mediated Identity

1. SPECIFICATION Media and Collective Identity Prompt
Questions:
• How do the contemporary media represent nations,
regions and ethnic / social / collective
groups of people in different ways?
• How does contemporary representation compare to
previous time periods?
• What are the social implications of different media
representations of groups of people?
• To what extent is human identity increasingly
‘mediated’?

2. “To what extent is human identity
increasingly ‘mediated’?”

3. Mediation:synonyms: conciliation, arbitration, reconciliation, intervention, intercession, interposition, good
offices; More
mediation
miːdɪˈeɪʃ(ə)n/
noun
noun: mediation; plural noun: mediations
1. Intervention in a dispute in order to resolve it; arbitration.
"the parties have sought mediation and it has failed“
2. Intervention in a process or relationship; intercession.
"they are offering sacrifice and mediation between God and man"

4. A ‘negotiated’ reading of a media
text; (Stuart Hall)
• Preferred Reading – This is when audiences respond to
the textt the way media producers want/expect them to.
• Negotiated Reading – This is when the audience partly
agrees with the media text
• Oppositional Reading – This is when the audience are in
complete disagreement with ‘meanings’ of the text

5. How do you think this applies to
Identity? (Relating to the media)
• Preferred Reading – This is when audiences respond to the
product the way media producers want/expect them to.
• Negotiated Reading – This is when a member of the
audience partly agrees with the media text
• Oppositional Reading – This is when the audience are in
complete disagreement with ‘meanings’ of the text

6. Thomas De Zengotita: (2005)
• Says that almost everything we experience or
learn is via the media in some way.
• Therefore the media must shape and create us,
our views, an our identity as people.
• We subconsciously believe ourselves (the self) to
be somehow inherently important because of all
the media addressed to us:

7. Poletta & Jasper
• A collective identity may have been first constructed by
outsiders who may still enforce it, but it depends on some
acceptance by those to whom it is applied.
• Collective identities are expressed in cultural materials –
names, narratives, symbols, verbal styles, rituals, clothing,
and so on – but not all cultural materials express collective
identities.
Does this imply Preferred, Negotiated, or
Oppositional readings are normal?

8. How do you think these views are important
for our work on collective identity?

9. Jacques Lacan
‘The Mirror Stage’
‘ That mirrors helped
children develop a sense
of self-identity.’
The assertion is that we
gain an idea of self-
identity through reflection.

10. • How does this fit with Stuart Hall’s
negotiated readings?
• Are there any ‘mirrors’ you can
think of that help ‘mediate’ your
sense of self identity?

11. David Gauntlett: (Media, Gender and Identity 2002 )
• 'It is the case that the construction of identity has
become a known requirement. Modern Western
societies does not leave individuals in any doubt
that they need to make choices of identity and
lifestyle - even if their preferred options are rather
obvious and conventional ones, or are limited due
to lack of financial (or cultural) resources. As the
sociologist Ulrich Beck has noted - everyone
wants to 'live their own life,' but this is, at the same
time 'an experimental life'.'

12. Your life is your project - there is no escape. The media
provides some of the tools which can be used in this work.
Like many toolkit, however, it contains some good utensils
and some useless ones; some that might give beauty to
the project and some that might spoil it.'
'The role model remains an important
concept, although it should not be
taken to mean someone that a person
wants to copy. Instead, role models
serve as navigation points as
individuals steer their own personal
routes through life.'
David Gauntlett: (Media, Gender and Identity 2002 )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NswJ4kO9u

13. 'The power relationship between the media and the
audience involves a 'bit of both' or to be more precise, a lot
of both. The media sends out a huge number of messages
about identity and acceptable forms of self-expression,
gender, sexuality, and lifestyle. At the same time the public
have their own even more robust set of diverse feelings on
the issues.
David Gauntlett: (Media, Gender and Identity 2002 )
The media's suggestions may
be seductive but can never
simply overpower contrary
feelings in the audience.'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1Qyks8QEM

14. 'The power relationship between the media and the
audience involves a 'bit of both' or to be more precise, a lot
of both. The media sends out a huge number of messages
about identity and acceptable forms of self-expression,
gender, sexuality, and lifestyle. At the same time the public
have their own even more robust set of diverse feelings on
the issues.
David Gauntlett: (Media, Gender and Identity 2002 )
The media's suggestions may
be seductive but can never
simply overpower contrary
feelings in the audience.'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1Qyks8QEM
Does this imply Preferred, Negotiated, or
Oppositional readings are normal?

15. Althusser: Interpellation 1971
• A mechanism whereby the human subject
is'constituted'(constructed) by pre-given
structures
• According to this view, the subject (viewer,
listener, reader) is constituted(constructed) by
the text
• The power of the mass media resides in their
ability to 'position‘ the subject in such a way
that their representations are taken to be

16. Althusser: Interpellation 1971
The subject (viewer, listener,
reader) is constructed by the text.
The text can 'position‘ the subject
in such a way that the text’s
meanings and representations are
taken to be reality.

17. Althusser: Interpellation 1971
The subject (viewer, listener,
reader) is constituted constructed
by the text.
The text can 'position‘ the subject
in such a way that the text’s
meanings and representations are
Does this imply Preferred, Negotiated, or
Oppositional readings are normal?

18. “To what extent is human identity
increasingly ‘mediated’?”

19. • 1. Can you personally relate to the idea of creating identity using the
media? Are there any characters or media personalities who you feel
represent you?
• 2. Can you think of any examples of Collective Identities being
heavily influenced and define themselves by the media? Particularly
youth sub-cultures that are often defined by the type of media they
consume:
• 3. Are there identities that are often constructed then perpetuated by
the media? Eg. ‘The Chav’ Or are there individuals? Eg. Amy
Winehouse
• 4. How can these media identities influence others? Eg ‘Skins
Parties’
• 5. In an Internet ‘We Media’ world how can we use the media to