Week 4 - Barker, Ch.8 (Subjectivity & Identity)

Identity emerged as a central theme of cultural studies in the 90s. Identity is a cultural "production" and a "description in language." Social identity is formed by outer and inner world of subject. Sex, language, attitudes, emotions, etc. all help compose what we construct as "identity." Foucault sees individuals as "products of discourse" that are "fractured" into multiple identities. Giddens and Foucault disagree on whether we are "active and knowledgable" agents in identity creation. Idea is that both inner and outer forces create our identities. Feminism attempts to gain control of the language that would define female.