Collective Identity

David Gauntlett and David Buckingham are influential writers concerned with the relationship between media and cultural identity:

• "A focus on identity requires...attention to...media and technologies...used in everyday life, and their consequences both for individuals and for social groups" - Buckingham (2008)
• "Thinking about self-identity and individuality can cause some anxiety...is individuality just an illusion? Maybe we are all incredibly similar, but are programmed to value minuscule bits of differentiation." - Gauntlett (2007)

DEBATE: should innocent people have any reason to worry about carrying an identity card?

Abstract ways of thinking about identity: the clothes we wear, the media we consume; the people we like.

• "the presentation of self" - Goffman (1990) talking of how others see us

People make assumption of minority groups, such as Muslims or The Police, due to their collective identity: traits of a similar nature that one identity share.

ISSUE: is 'straight-acting' a safer 'way-of-being'?