Modernity and Self-Identity
In a modern society (not a society that exists today, more a society where modernity is well-developed), self-identity becomes an inescapable issue. With people wishing to show their true selves without fear of judgement, they become scared and confused and hide their identity even more from the public eye. Even people who believe they would not have given much thought to their identity will have made significant choices in terms of their clothing, appearance and leisure choices, even going as far as to make high-impact choices about their relationships, beliefs and occupations.
While earlier societies would have provided individuals with clearly defined roles as a result of their social orders being based in tradition, in a post-traditional society we have to create our own roles for ourselves. As Anthony Giddens, a British theorist born 18th January 1938, puts it: "What to do? How to act? Who to be? These are focal questions for everyone living in circumstances of late modernity - and ones which, on some level or another, all of us answer, either discursively or through day-to-day social behaviour."
The prominence of these questions that Giddens has asked about modern society is both a consequence and a cause of changes at an institutional level. Typically, Giddens (pictured above) sees connections between the most "micro" aspects of society (the individual's internal sense of self and identity) and the big "macro" picture of the state, multinational capitalist corporations, and globalisation. These different levels, which have been traditionally treated quite separately by sociology, have influence upon each other, and cannot really be understood in isolation from one another.
An example of this is the changes in intimate relationships we have seen over the last sixty or so years. There is a greater level of divorce and separation as people can move from one relationship to another, as well as the substantially increased levels of openness about sexuality, and the much more conspicuous sexual diversity.
These changes cannot be understood by assuming they were led by social institutions and the state, not least of all due to the traditional thinking on both left and right being that both capitalism and the "moral authorities" of the state would prefer the population to have stable monogamous family lives, but these changes cannot be explained by just looking at the individual level either: we cannot just say that people spontaneously changed their living habits and sexualities.
A serious explanation must lie somewhere within this network of macro and micro forces. The changes in marriage, relationships and visible sexuality are associated with the decline of religion and the rise of rationality - social changes brought about by changes in how individuals view life, which in term stem from social influences and observations.
These developments are also a product of changes in the laws relating to marriage and sexuality (macro), but the demand for these changes came from the level of everyday lives (micro). These, in turn, had been affected by the social movements of women's liberation and equality (macro - see the Feminism and Post-Feminism page for more information) which themselves had grown out of dissatisfactions within everyday life (micro). Therefore, change stems from a mix of micro and macro forces.
The mass media is also likely to influence individual's perceptions of their own relationships. Whether in serious drama or celebrity gossip, the need for "good stories" always supports an emphasis on change in relationships. Since almost nobody on TV will remain happily married for a lifetime - whether we talk about real people or fictional characters - we inevitably receive a message that monogamous heterosexual stability is, at best, a rare "ideal" which few can expect to achieve. We are encouraged to reflect on our relationships in magazines and self-help books (explicitly) and in movies, comedy and drama (implicitly). The news and factual media inform us about the findings of lifestyle research and actual social changes in family life, as the knowledge is then "reappropriated" by ordinary people who often lend support to non-traditional models of living. Information and ideas from the media do not merely reflect the social world but contribute to its shape, and are central to modern reflexivity. Television shows like Love Island encourage us as a society to not only reflect on how their relationships are portrayed, but also to play matchmaker in a sense due to the constant recouplings on the show.
Media representation of society can be seen either as traditional or post traditionalist. Traditional societies are ones in which individual choice has been limited by its dominant customs or traditions, whereas post traditionalist societies are ones where the ideas set by previous generations are less important than those of individuals. Post traditionalist societies no longer feel so dependent and limited to time and place as a result of this. Giddens says, "We are living in a post traditional society where we are much less concerned with precedents set by previous generations and that our options are only limited by what the law and public opinion allows. We have replaced seen/discrete systems with remote "expert" systems, institutions and corporations." Giddens also says that in a post-traditional order, self-identity becomes a reflexive project, an endeavour that we continuously work and reflect on. We create, maintain and revise a set of biographical narratives - the story of who we are, and how we came to be where we are now.
In terms of popular music and artists, an artist whose music conforms to Giddens' theory is Britney Spears. The music video for her 2001 single "Boys" (the Co-Ed remix featuring Pharrell Williams) features Williams alongside fictional character Austin Powers, portrayed by Canadian comedian Mike Myers, relating to the theory as it is outside the bounds of reality. Although the reason behind this particular choice and single was as promotional material for the 2002 film "Goldmember", a film featuring Myers' character of Austin Powers, the song was still popular in several respects, reaching the top 10 in the charts in Belgium, Ireland and the UK.