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Identity and the Definition of the Situation in a Mass‐Mediated Context
Author(s) -
Altheide David L.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.2000.23.1.1
Subject(s) - fantasy , identity (music) , sociology , drama , ethnography , context (archaeology) , entertainment , social psychology , variety (cybernetics) , the symbolic , psychology , mass media , epistemology , aesthetics , psychoanalysis , visual arts , anthropology , computer science , literature , art , advertising , history , philosophy , archaeology , artificial intelligence , business
The importance of identity and the definition of the situation for symbolic interactionist theory and research are discussed. These two concepts have been separated in much research since the 1970s, with identity being used in a variety of ways. This separation is partly attributed to paradigm shifts in social science, as well as to popular culture treatments of identity. Popular culture's emphasis on “collective” and “personal” identities is processed through entertainment formats that emphasize emotional and vicarious involvement, drama and action. Materials illustrate the presence of a mass‐mediated generalized other, media communities, and the significance this has for realist and postrealist ethnography. Suggestions are offered for a reintegration of identity and the definition of the situation in ethnographic work. Sex videos are total fantasy. But people have to realize that even in a fantasy you have to deal with reality . —Pornographic film actress