201
In modern cities different cultures
are thrown together. The more our
lives are influenced by these diverse
cultural traditions, the less sense we
have of a fixed national identity.
See also: W.E.B. Du Bois 68–73 ■ Roland Robertson 146–47 ■ David Held 170–71 ■ G.H. Mead 176–77 ■
Norbert Elias 180–81 ■ Erving Goffman 190–95 ■ Benedict Anderson 202–03 ■ Howard S. Becker 280–85
CULTURE AND IDENTITY
Hall names three modern ideas
of identity: the Enlightenment
“self,” the sociological “self,”
and the postmodern “self.” The
Enlightenment sense of self
prevailed from the 17th to the early
20th centuries, and was held to be
a complete, autonomous being: a
person was born with a firm inner
“core” that unfolded with age, but
remained unchanged.
In the 1920s, sociologists such
as G.H. Mead suggested that
identity is formed in relationship
with the environment and
“significant others,” who explain
and transmit the values, meanings,
and symbols of the child’s world.
The self in this definition was still
seen as an inner core, but it could
be modified by society, through
internalizing cultural values and
meanings. This “interactionist”
view of the self, which bridges
the gap between the personal and
public worlds, became the classic
sociological view of the self.
The postmodern self, on the
other hand, says Hall, has no stable
inner core. It is not fixed in any
way, but instead is formed and
transformed continuously
according to the ways that it is
addressed or represented in society.
This is a self in process, defined
historically rather than biologically.
It contains contradictory identities
that pull in different directions,
and only seems continuous or
stable because of the narrative
that each of us constructs about
ourselves (our “life story”).Detached identities
Hall says that the rapid, continuous,
and extensive change that began
to take place at the end of the 20th
century has added to a sense of
instability. Traditions and social
practices are constantly examined,
challenged, and often transformed
by new information stemming from
increased global interconnection.
The global marketing of styles,
places, and images means they
pop up in every country, disrupting
a traditional sense of fixed
nationality and cultural identity.
This “mash up” of global culture
means that identities have become
detached from specific times,places, histories, and traditions,
and we are now faced with a range
of identities from which we can
choose, when they appeal to us.
Within the “discourse” (meanings
system) of global consumerism,
the differences and cultural
distinctions that are used to define
identity have become a kind of
global currency. For example, jeans
and sneakers—once associated
with “being American”—are now
just as much a part of being a
young person in India or Kenya.
Where to the Afro-French
philosopher Franz Fanon, black
people were always defined as
“other” to whites, Hall says that
in the global arena, cultures are
thrown together “with each
‘Other’,” where that other is “no
longer simply ‘out there’ but also
within.” People increasingly come
from a mixture of living spaces,
ancestry, and birthplaces, and are
aware of internally holding a range
of identities that may come to the
fore at different times. This inner
and outer diversity, Hall says, is the
force that is shaping our times. ■Stuart Hall
Known as the “godfather of
multiculturalism,” Stuart Hall
was born into a Jamaican family
that he says played out the
conflict between the local and
imperial (colonizing) context.
His parents were from different
social classes and from mixed
ancestry; Hall rebelled against
their suggestions to play only
with “higher color” friends.
In 1952, Hall went to Oxford
University, England, and
became a key figure in the
emerging New Left politicalmovement. He was a cofounder
of the Left Review in 1957,
director of the Centre for
Contemporary Cultural Studies,
Birmingham, UK, and in 1979,
a professor of sociology with the
Open University. He also worked
with film-makers and artists on
black subjectivity.Key works1979 The Great Moving
Right Show
1980 Encoding/Decoding
1992 “The Question of
Cultural Identity”