claesdiscourse: Identity

“As we use it now, an “identity" refer to either (a) a social category, defined by membership rules and (alleged) characteristic attributes or expected behaviors, or (b) socially distinguishing features that a person takes a special pride in or views as unchangeable but socially consequential (or (a) and (b) at once). In the latter sense, “identity" is modern formulation of dignity, pride, or honor that implicitly links these to social categories. “

D. Fearon, James (1999 http://www.stanford.edu/~jfearon/papers/iden1v2.pdf) "What is identity (as we now use the word)?"

I did quite a bit of research on the net but I also started to read “Identity: a reader” du Gay, Paul, Evans, Jessica and Redman, Peter (2000) London: Sage Publications . I read Phoebe Rose’s blog (http://phoeberoses.wordpress.com/) where she writes about “Who am I” and Alex Jordan’s blog (http://jordan1991alex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/identity-media.html) which is about identity and the media. All of it is interesting and accurate and “Identity: a reader” consists of facts and philosophical thoughts about identity to write 200 words 20 times.

I rather write about the possibility to change your identity and I don’t mean to change your name, move to a different country and start a new life. People are living their normal lives with work from 9-5 and families and responsibilities, the identity change may not even be known by people around you. Internet is a fascinating world where the possibility to be anyone exists.

A perfect example of this is the movie Catfish (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh-qKqu3ZJ0). Universal Pictures wrote “A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our times, Catfish is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue.” which summarize it without giving to much of the plot away. The story's about a married woman who creates a network of people online with different personalities, voices and completely different lives. This woman has a couple of cellphones and plays with a single man’s emotional quest for love. It’s a capturing story which I believe exists to a far greater extent than everyone believes.