POPULAR MEDIA CULTURE &
DIVERSITY
1. CONCEPTS, DEBATES AND APPROACHED
1.IDENTITY AND DIVERSITY IN WESTERN SOCIETY
1.1. ABOUT IDENTITY
Ubiquity of identity & identity markers/labels
o We are raised with a lot of identity markers
o The day you were born you were given the label boy or girl (even before you
were born)
o Ethnic identity, abilities,…
You get a lot of labels
o You also start to think of yourself in identity labels because you might disagree
with some of the markers given to you
Bodily traits and sociocultural features: basis for identity categories
o Those identity labels are often linked to certain bodily traits
o Sexual desire, abilities, social cultural features,…
o Certain bodily traits that are in a way not related to one another, suddenly start
to be seen together a process of rationalisation happens, a construction of
identities based on bodily traits
Richard Jenkins
o He makes a distinction between identification and identity
o Identification: “the systematic establishment and signification, between
individuals, between collectivities and between individuals and collectivities, of
relationships of similarity and difference”
If you identify as a man or woman, and you see other men, you see
similarities, you start to shape your identities based on those similarities
and always in opposition to something else. There’s always a dynamic of
similarities and differences. Once that process is kind of finished for
yourself (it’s never really finished), you start to use identity categories
o Identity “denotes the ways in which individuals and collectivities are
distinguished in their relations with other individuals and collectivities”
Individual: you as a person
Collectivities: when a lot of people come together, they start to see it as a
social identity; something shared with a lot of people
o Both an interactional product of ‘external’ identification by others, as of
‘internal’ self-identification
When you watch other people, you start to give identity labels, it’s
stronger than we sometimes want. We also sometimes say it to people
and give them a label
o Shaped by and dependent on culture
The words we use to think about ourselves
1
, We base ourselves on cultural discourses about being a man, about
masculinity,…
Cultural discourses & representations about identities
If we look at popular culture, we are interested in trying to figure out what kind of
norms, values are being expressed in film television that relates back to identity
because these are sources, we used to think about ourselves
o We start to think about men as… and we start to repeat this, it becomes
something that people use. When I am a man, I must me like this or this has
power
o Because of the power, it may force you into stereotypical embodiments
For example, asking to google to show a picture of a group men and
women the men are holding a beer
This can pressure you into something you don’t feel you are
(Re)produced in popular media culture
Help people make sense of who they are as a
person…
… but may also hamper people’s lives as they
engender normative assumptions about
people
Context-specific!
o What it means to be a man might be different depending on the cultural context
you are in
1.2 SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONIST PERSPECTIVE
Identities are socially constructed and vary culturally and historically
o Identities are the way we make sense of ourselves yet that depends on culture
and time
Social constructivist perspective challenges this essentialist way of thinking which is
making a comeback
Opposes an essentialist understanding of identity
o Essentialism:
+ assumes that certain identities are natural, biological, and historical, existing
prior to the birth of a person
It does not give room for any form of dynamics of identifying differently,
it’s fixed even before you were born
+ assumes persons with same identity share the same feelings and experiences,
throughout history and across the globe
They also assume that everyone has the same feelings so if there are two
women, they feel the same. It doesn’t matter where we are in the world
+ men and women ‘inherently different beings’
o It erases all forms of diversity within those identities and really assumes that it is
all biology and no culture
Differences exist, but should be seen as the outcome of social processes and cultural
practices
o There are of course differences between men and women
o Because if you start to repeat that men should not show emotions, the patterns
start emerging, socialization
1.3 SOCIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY, INEQUALITY, AND IDENTITY
POLITICS
2
, Sociocultural diversity: “all kinds of differences between individuals and groups” (Arnesen
& Allan, 2009)
o When we see the word diversity, people assume that there is equality between
all
Discourses about diversity are deeply political
Discursive constructions of identities as ‘normal’, ‘mainstream’, or ‘superior’ vs.
identities constructed as ‘abnormal’, ‘deviant’, or ‘inferior’
The term ‘normal’ implies that it is not only the biggest group but also the
norm and everything that is not the norm differs from it
Dynamics are happening
o Constructing identities as binary, oppositional, & hierarchical
o Constructing cultural repertoires that limit diversity within identity categories
Within the categories, there are different ways of examining
structural inequalities in institutions, culture, and everyday life practices
o When we think as such, we’ll end up with structural inequalities
o When we keep saying that women should not do this or that occupation, they will
be less triggered to do this kind of job/occupation we see structural
inequalities happen
Those discourses keep women from exploring those positions
How to make visible, question, overthrow structural forms of oppression?
o There is a lot of frustration among people who are seen as less normal. Because
then they are in a position of oppression. “If you see us as less worthy, we’ll start
to organize ourselves and make ourselves visible” that’s where identity
politics comes in
Identity politics: “The forging of ‘new languages’ of identity combined with acting to
change social practices, usually through the formation of coalitions where at least some
values are shared” (Barker, 2012)
o For example, women’s movement: there is a lot of differences between women,
they felt that maybe they should ignore those differences and embrace those
differences and use the label of women as a way to change things. Focus on
what we do share
Celebrating a share culture…
… but at times presented as homogenous and essentialist
o There is the women’s movement, anti-racism movement, gay pride, black lives
matter. All kinds of identity politics often translated into
activism quite visible in the streets and lately also online.
It’s a danger that even in those groups, people start to
think in an essentialist manner, who kind of ignore that
diversity and start to say that we as women, we are
different.
o Gay right’s movement women were ignored in those
movements because they would start from a gay male perspective, so they were
forced to start their own groups
o Strategic essentialism: using an essentialist perspective but with the
awareness that it is still a construction
Alternatively, emphasising a shared identity as strategic:
o Helps formation of a social collective & clear set of goals
o Should not imply that other intersecting identities are annulled
o Shared identity can be experienced & signified in diverse ways
For example, women’s rights: in our agenda we’re going to keep room for
diversity, trying to make sure the diversity is knowledged. It helps to create a
social collective and to have goals. But always with keeping in mind that the
3
, other intersecting identity should not be ignored and that people within
those movements should be aware of what it means to be in instance black
and a woman, lesbian and a woman,… also considered that shared identity;
womanhood can be experienced differently
MeToo illustrated what happened when those different identities are ignored
Focus on #MeToo movement
’Me too’ Movement: activist group, set up by Tarana Burke in 2006; support
survivors of sexual violence and other forms of systemic abuse of power (mainly
women of colour)
2017: hashtag to call out sexual abuse and encourage other survivors to make
explicit the magnitude of abuse
o Everyone became more aware of what MeToo was
Abuse reported by (mainly) white Hollywood actresses received more media attention
than abuse reported by young women of color
o High-profile celebrities hold celebrity capital
“accumulated media visibility through recurrent media representations”
(Driessens, 2016): used to call out sexual harassment
He points out that celebrities, people who are known, they already get a
lot of media attention,
o For example, if Taylor Swift would write about this, almost all the
newspapers would report about this, that has to do with her
celebrity capital
They are aware that they are more privileged, and want to use their
privileged position to also make visible for those who cannot address their
harassment
Because in the end those women also have a lot more financial capital than
women who are in precarious positions
o Women in precarious positions do not dispose of the same symbolic or materials
means to call out men in powerful positions
1.4. INTERSECTIONALITY
Kimberle Crenshaw
Scholar in law, critical race theory and civil rights
Duidelijk maken dat mensen met meerdere gemarginaliseerde identiteiten (bijvoorbeeld zwarte vrouwen)
unieke ervaringen van uitsluiting kunnen meemaken die niet volledig begrepen worden als je enkel naar één
kenmerk (zoals geslacht of ras) kijkt.
‘Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of
Color’ (1991)
o She introduces us to thinking about society through an intersectional lens
o The article starts by talking about identity politics, she points out how important
they were and how crucial it is that we have a feminist movement
o She talks about the feminist movement and the anti-racist movement; they each
have their own identity politics, one’s starting from gender, the other from race
Identity politics: importance and pitfalls
Violence against women of color: shaped by intersecting patterns of racism and sexism
o Violence and the way politics are thinking about it, the way it is experienced by
these women and the way media reporting on it are all shaped by intersecting
patterns of racism and sexism, so it is important to think about what it means to
have 2 minoritized identities
Structural intersectionality: Intersection of race and gender makes actual
experiences of non-white women qualitatively different than that of white women
4
DIVERSITY
1. CONCEPTS, DEBATES AND APPROACHED
1.IDENTITY AND DIVERSITY IN WESTERN SOCIETY
1.1. ABOUT IDENTITY
Ubiquity of identity & identity markers/labels
o We are raised with a lot of identity markers
o The day you were born you were given the label boy or girl (even before you
were born)
o Ethnic identity, abilities,…
You get a lot of labels
o You also start to think of yourself in identity labels because you might disagree
with some of the markers given to you
Bodily traits and sociocultural features: basis for identity categories
o Those identity labels are often linked to certain bodily traits
o Sexual desire, abilities, social cultural features,…
o Certain bodily traits that are in a way not related to one another, suddenly start
to be seen together a process of rationalisation happens, a construction of
identities based on bodily traits
Richard Jenkins
o He makes a distinction between identification and identity
o Identification: “the systematic establishment and signification, between
individuals, between collectivities and between individuals and collectivities, of
relationships of similarity and difference”
If you identify as a man or woman, and you see other men, you see
similarities, you start to shape your identities based on those similarities
and always in opposition to something else. There’s always a dynamic of
similarities and differences. Once that process is kind of finished for
yourself (it’s never really finished), you start to use identity categories
o Identity “denotes the ways in which individuals and collectivities are
distinguished in their relations with other individuals and collectivities”
Individual: you as a person
Collectivities: when a lot of people come together, they start to see it as a
social identity; something shared with a lot of people
o Both an interactional product of ‘external’ identification by others, as of
‘internal’ self-identification
When you watch other people, you start to give identity labels, it’s
stronger than we sometimes want. We also sometimes say it to people
and give them a label
o Shaped by and dependent on culture
The words we use to think about ourselves
1
, We base ourselves on cultural discourses about being a man, about
masculinity,…
Cultural discourses & representations about identities
If we look at popular culture, we are interested in trying to figure out what kind of
norms, values are being expressed in film television that relates back to identity
because these are sources, we used to think about ourselves
o We start to think about men as… and we start to repeat this, it becomes
something that people use. When I am a man, I must me like this or this has
power
o Because of the power, it may force you into stereotypical embodiments
For example, asking to google to show a picture of a group men and
women the men are holding a beer
This can pressure you into something you don’t feel you are
(Re)produced in popular media culture
Help people make sense of who they are as a
person…
… but may also hamper people’s lives as they
engender normative assumptions about
people
Context-specific!
o What it means to be a man might be different depending on the cultural context
you are in
1.2 SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONIST PERSPECTIVE
Identities are socially constructed and vary culturally and historically
o Identities are the way we make sense of ourselves yet that depends on culture
and time
Social constructivist perspective challenges this essentialist way of thinking which is
making a comeback
Opposes an essentialist understanding of identity
o Essentialism:
+ assumes that certain identities are natural, biological, and historical, existing
prior to the birth of a person
It does not give room for any form of dynamics of identifying differently,
it’s fixed even before you were born
+ assumes persons with same identity share the same feelings and experiences,
throughout history and across the globe
They also assume that everyone has the same feelings so if there are two
women, they feel the same. It doesn’t matter where we are in the world
+ men and women ‘inherently different beings’
o It erases all forms of diversity within those identities and really assumes that it is
all biology and no culture
Differences exist, but should be seen as the outcome of social processes and cultural
practices
o There are of course differences between men and women
o Because if you start to repeat that men should not show emotions, the patterns
start emerging, socialization
1.3 SOCIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY, INEQUALITY, AND IDENTITY
POLITICS
2
, Sociocultural diversity: “all kinds of differences between individuals and groups” (Arnesen
& Allan, 2009)
o When we see the word diversity, people assume that there is equality between
all
Discourses about diversity are deeply political
Discursive constructions of identities as ‘normal’, ‘mainstream’, or ‘superior’ vs.
identities constructed as ‘abnormal’, ‘deviant’, or ‘inferior’
The term ‘normal’ implies that it is not only the biggest group but also the
norm and everything that is not the norm differs from it
Dynamics are happening
o Constructing identities as binary, oppositional, & hierarchical
o Constructing cultural repertoires that limit diversity within identity categories
Within the categories, there are different ways of examining
structural inequalities in institutions, culture, and everyday life practices
o When we think as such, we’ll end up with structural inequalities
o When we keep saying that women should not do this or that occupation, they will
be less triggered to do this kind of job/occupation we see structural
inequalities happen
Those discourses keep women from exploring those positions
How to make visible, question, overthrow structural forms of oppression?
o There is a lot of frustration among people who are seen as less normal. Because
then they are in a position of oppression. “If you see us as less worthy, we’ll start
to organize ourselves and make ourselves visible” that’s where identity
politics comes in
Identity politics: “The forging of ‘new languages’ of identity combined with acting to
change social practices, usually through the formation of coalitions where at least some
values are shared” (Barker, 2012)
o For example, women’s movement: there is a lot of differences between women,
they felt that maybe they should ignore those differences and embrace those
differences and use the label of women as a way to change things. Focus on
what we do share
Celebrating a share culture…
… but at times presented as homogenous and essentialist
o There is the women’s movement, anti-racism movement, gay pride, black lives
matter. All kinds of identity politics often translated into
activism quite visible in the streets and lately also online.
It’s a danger that even in those groups, people start to
think in an essentialist manner, who kind of ignore that
diversity and start to say that we as women, we are
different.
o Gay right’s movement women were ignored in those
movements because they would start from a gay male perspective, so they were
forced to start their own groups
o Strategic essentialism: using an essentialist perspective but with the
awareness that it is still a construction
Alternatively, emphasising a shared identity as strategic:
o Helps formation of a social collective & clear set of goals
o Should not imply that other intersecting identities are annulled
o Shared identity can be experienced & signified in diverse ways
For example, women’s rights: in our agenda we’re going to keep room for
diversity, trying to make sure the diversity is knowledged. It helps to create a
social collective and to have goals. But always with keeping in mind that the
3
, other intersecting identity should not be ignored and that people within
those movements should be aware of what it means to be in instance black
and a woman, lesbian and a woman,… also considered that shared identity;
womanhood can be experienced differently
MeToo illustrated what happened when those different identities are ignored
Focus on #MeToo movement
’Me too’ Movement: activist group, set up by Tarana Burke in 2006; support
survivors of sexual violence and other forms of systemic abuse of power (mainly
women of colour)
2017: hashtag to call out sexual abuse and encourage other survivors to make
explicit the magnitude of abuse
o Everyone became more aware of what MeToo was
Abuse reported by (mainly) white Hollywood actresses received more media attention
than abuse reported by young women of color
o High-profile celebrities hold celebrity capital
“accumulated media visibility through recurrent media representations”
(Driessens, 2016): used to call out sexual harassment
He points out that celebrities, people who are known, they already get a
lot of media attention,
o For example, if Taylor Swift would write about this, almost all the
newspapers would report about this, that has to do with her
celebrity capital
They are aware that they are more privileged, and want to use their
privileged position to also make visible for those who cannot address their
harassment
Because in the end those women also have a lot more financial capital than
women who are in precarious positions
o Women in precarious positions do not dispose of the same symbolic or materials
means to call out men in powerful positions
1.4. INTERSECTIONALITY
Kimberle Crenshaw
Scholar in law, critical race theory and civil rights
Duidelijk maken dat mensen met meerdere gemarginaliseerde identiteiten (bijvoorbeeld zwarte vrouwen)
unieke ervaringen van uitsluiting kunnen meemaken die niet volledig begrepen worden als je enkel naar één
kenmerk (zoals geslacht of ras) kijkt.
‘Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of
Color’ (1991)
o She introduces us to thinking about society through an intersectional lens
o The article starts by talking about identity politics, she points out how important
they were and how crucial it is that we have a feminist movement
o She talks about the feminist movement and the anti-racist movement; they each
have their own identity politics, one’s starting from gender, the other from race
Identity politics: importance and pitfalls
Violence against women of color: shaped by intersecting patterns of racism and sexism
o Violence and the way politics are thinking about it, the way it is experienced by
these women and the way media reporting on it are all shaped by intersecting
patterns of racism and sexism, so it is important to think about what it means to
have 2 minoritized identities
Structural intersectionality: Intersection of race and gender makes actual
experiences of non-white women qualitatively different than that of white women
4
