Questioning Identity: Gender, Class, Ethnicity - Essay Example

Symbols and representations play a vital role in creating an image of ourselves in society. The clothes that we wear, our behavior and manner of speech are often the basis on which we are judged and we find ourselves spending a good deal of time thinking of ways to project the right image to people. This “image” helps us to associate with those whom we like to identify ourselves with and vice versa. For example, if a person chooses to wear designer suits to the office, he or she is most likely to bond with the group of people who are the highest-paid amongst the colleagues. The same person would usually be looked upon as an outcast by the other colleagues who earn is lesser. Thus symbols and representations help us to associate and disassociate with people.    

2. What is the relevance of the unconscious mind to identification? How is it associated with psychoanalysis?

Psychoanalysis is the study of the suppressed motives and feelings of man based on the theories of Sigmund Feud. The “unconscious” mind is of most prevalence here. Almost all of us can relate to instances where an unconscious thought surfaced in some form of or the other in our day to day routine. We can most commonly relate to incidents at the workplace, where we said or did things that were inappropriate with the realization only coming later. Studies also show that people, especially children, tend to subconsciously idolize some personality that they look up to. The examples of sons wanting to be like their fathers is not often an overtly expressed thought, but precocious from their gestures and preferences. Sexuality and erotica are also found to be one of the most suppressed emotions of the unconscious mind.

3. Stereotypes are produced through categorization. Discuss this notion in relation to gender and attempt to refer to examples from your community.
   Stereotypes are formed as a result of continuously being exposed to people who share similar characteristics in both physiological and psychological ways that we tend to subconsciously characterize them. There are myriad stereotypes that we observe on a day to day basis. For example, the high-class rich people tend to dress alike in expensive designer clothes and also radiate arrogance in their mannerisms, are termed or rather stereotyped as “snobs”. The gender aspect plays a significant role when it comes to stereotyping and categorization. The category of a home-maker immediately sets our minds thinking about a humble, loving and caring mother and wife. This is a clear example of how stereotypes are created, with women molding themselves to live up to those ideal expectations. In the same way, a man is expected to take responsibility for the entire family and be the sole breadwinner for the entire family. This subconsciously forces man to fulfill these expectations bestowed upon him.  

  SECTION TWO

 Illustrate the effect of income on individual identity.

 Money is an important life source for all of us, and existence without it is unimaginable. Money does not merely satisfy our material needs, for it also a key indicator of our stance in society.

This situation can be termed as “social isolation”. This is also one of the most important reasons for people to fear the state of poverty, which will eventually result in social isolation.  People at any point of life would hate to be identified or recognized as poor and this often results in them leading false or double lives to escape the harsh realities of poverty. In today’s world, income and consumption are synonymous to status. There are products and services that are targeted to specific income groups. The elite class of the society prefers consuming goods that are branded, and choose to shop and eat out at places where everything is expensive. Their lifestyle is one of luxury and opulence. This is in fact the most envious lifestyle and one that many want to be associated with owing to all its glitz and glamour. The middle class however chooses to adopt a lifestyle that is comfortable and modest, safe from what the social scientists call “social polarization” which focuses on the extreme classes of the society.  Identity encompasses both the personal interpretation and ideas of one’s image and also the society’s take on our image. These aspects can be cleverly manipulated in order to create a complete image of our desire, but even this would have its own psychological impacts in the long run.