Sociology of Identity
Code: 101132 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500262 Sociology | OT | 4 | 0 |
Contact
- Name:
- Esperanza Bielsa Mialet
- Email:
- Esperanza.Bielsa@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- catalan (cat)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites.
Objectives and Contextualisation
This module offers a sociological perspective on identity and its paradoxes, examining the centrality of the concept in contemporary society as well as the main criticisms that have been made to its academic use. The module provides basic tools for relating identity to the social nature of human beings, on the one hand, and investigates the social construction of identity in its various manifestations, on the other. The module starts with an analysis of the link between individual and society through classical authors such as Mead, Goffman and Elias, to then focus on the notions of collective identity that emerge from the end of the decade of 1960 with identity politics. A third block analyses the main criticism of the concept of identity and the need to redefine it in the current context. Finally, a fourth block proposes as an alternative a reflection on non-identity centered on the figure of the stranger, borders and the practice of translation.
Competences
- Analysing the problems arising from the implementation of public policies and conflict situations by recognising the complexity of the social phenomena and political decisions affecting democracy, human rights, social justice and sustainable development.
- Applying the concepts and approaches of the sociological theory, specially the explanations of social inequalities between classes, between genders and between ethnic groups, to the implementation of public policies and to the resolution of conflict situations.
- Demonstrating a comprehension of the approaches of the sociological theory in its different aspects, interpretations and historical context.
- Describing social phenomena in a theoretically relevant way, bearing in mind the complexity of the involved factors, its causes and its effects.
- Developing self-learning strategies.
- Effectively communicating the basic analysis of social phenomena in an elementary level of English.
- Generating innovative and competitive proposals in research and professional activity.
- Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Searching for documentary sources starting from concepts.
- Students must be capable of managing their own time, planning their own study, managing the relationship with their tutor or adviser, as well as setting and meeting deadlines for a work project.
Learning Outcomes
- Comparing the reading of cultural phenomena from several ideologies of the social reality of Spain and Catalonia.
- Defining the sociological concepts that interpret the cultural phenomena.
- Defining the underlying social phenomena of cultural policies and conflicts.
- Developing self-learning strategies.
- Distinguishing the explanations of cultural inequalities between classes, between genders and between ethnic groups that these actors take for granted.
- Distinguishing the sociological concepts about culture adopted by the actors involved in these policies and conflicts.
- Effectively communicating the basic analysis of social phenomena in an elementary level of English.
- Explaining the social interpretations of culture according to these approaches.
- Expressing the debates regarding these approaches, that refer to culture.
- Generating innovative and competitive proposals in research and professional activity.
- Relating the debates regarding these approaches, that refer to culture, with the historical context in which they emerged.
- Relating the explanations of cultural inequalities with general theoretical and methodological debates.
- Relating the theoretical approaches with debates about social order and action.
- Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Searching for documentary sources starting from concepts.
- Students must be capable of managing their own time, planning their own study, managing the relationship with their tutor or adviser, as well as setting and meeting deadlines for a work project.
Content
1. Introduction: Paradoxes of identity
2. Social being and self
Mead, socialization and self; Goffman, dramaturgy and negotiation of identity; Elias on identity: sociogenesis and psychogenesis; the body as a social instance.
3. Collectiveidentityand identity politics
Politics of identity or politics of difference; multiculturalism and recognition; postcolonial perspectives on subalterm identities.
4. Identity as a problem
Main criticisms of the concept of identity; postmodernism and the fragmentation of identities; flexible capitalism and identity; individualization and identity; hybrid identities; globalisation, mobility and identity; national and post-national identities.
5. Non-identity
The logic of identity; the stranger; borders; translation.
Methodology
Lectures.
Seminars.
Individual and small group tutorials.
Reading and presentation of texts.
Essay writing on a chosen topic.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures and seminars | 39 | 1.56 | 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 12, 14 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Individual or small group tutorials | 8 | 0.32 | 15, 4, 10, 16, 14 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Reading, essay writing, revising | 70 | 2.8 | 15, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 16, 11, 13, 12, 14 |
Assessment
The module will be assessed as follows:
1) Seminar presentation on a text. The organization and assessment criteria will be explained in class and publicized through the virtual campus. Individual. 15% of the final mark.
2) Writing of an original essay, based on a chosen topic from a proposed list. Individual. 35% of the final mark.
3) Written examination. A written exam will take place at the end of the module. Individual. 50% of the final mark.
Please consider the following:
a) The nature of the module and the method of assessment make regular attendance of lectures and seminars essential.
b) The smooth functioning of the course will depend on students presenting their work and delivering their essays on the set date.
c) It is a requirement that students keep a copy of submitted work.
d) The mark of 'Not evaluable ' means not having been assessed in one or in any of the three components mentioned above.
e) Students that obtain a rating equal to or above3.5and lower than 5 are entitled to participate in a retake exam, to be held shortly after the publication of the marks. Students who take this exam and pass, will get a grade of 5. If the student does not pass the retake, the grade will remain unchanged.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is using the work of others as if it were your own. All written work must be your own work. Whenever you make use of books, articles, internet pages or any other material, you must make this clear by the appropriate use of references and, where a passage is cited word by word, by the use of quotation marks. Plagiarism is a serious offence and is regarded in the same light as cheating on examinations. Plagiarism will result in a mark of 0.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 35% | 20 | 0.8 | 15, 1, 7, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 16, 11, 13, 12, 14 |
| Presentation | 15% | 10 | 0.4 | 15, 2, 4, 8, 9, 13, 14 |
| Written examination | 50% | 3 | 0.12 | 15, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 16, 11, 13, 12, 14 |
Bibliography
Introductions and historical approaches
Bielsa, E. 2018 ‘Identity’, a O. Carbonell and S.A. Harding (eds), Routledge Handbook of Translation and Culture, 2018, pp. 48-60.
Fearon, J.D. 1999 'What Is Identity (As We Now Use the Word)?', Department of Political Science (Stanford University): p.1–43. https://www.stanford.edu/group/fearon-research/cgi-bin/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/What-is-Identity-as-we-now-use-the-word-.pdf
Hall, S. 1996 'Introduction: Who Needs ‘Identity’?' in S. Hall and P. Du Gay (eds) Questions of Cultural Identity, London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage.
Jenkins, R. 2014 Social Identity, Fourth ed., London and New York: Routledge.
Moran, M. 2015 Identity and Capitalism, London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage.
Social being and self
Elias, N. 1991 The Society of Individuals, New York and London: Continuum.
Elias, N. 2000 The Civilizing Process, Oxford: Blackwell.
Goffman, E. 1963 Stigma, London: Penguin.
Goffman, E. 1956 The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Edinburgh: The University of Edinburgh Press.
Mead, G.H. 1934 Mind, Self and Society, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Young, I.M. 2005 On Female Body Experience. ‘Throwing Like a Girl’ and Other Essays, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Collective identity and identity politics
Anderson, B. 2006 Imagined Communities, London and New York: Verso.
Baldwin, J. 1993 The Fire Next Time, New York: Vintage.
Butler, J. 1999 Gender Trouble, London and New York: Routledge.
Delanty, G. 2018 Community Third ed., London and New York: Routledge.
Delanty, G. and O’Mahony, P. 2002 Nationalism and Social Theory, London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage.
Fanon, F. 2008 Black Skin, White Masks, London: Pluto Press.
Fernández Retamar, R. 1995 Caliban, Lleida: Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida.
Fraser, N. and Honneth, A. 2003 Redistribution or Recognition?, London and New York: Verso.
Gellner, E. 1983 Nations and Nationalism, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Go, J. 2013 'Fanon’s Postcolonial Cosmopolitanism', European Journal of Social Theory16(2): p.208–225.
Hall, S. 1990 'Cultural Identity and Diaspora' in Identity: Community, Culture, Difference, London: Lawrence & Wishart.
Kymlicka, W. 1995 Multicultural Citizenship, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Kymlicka, W. 2001 Politics in the Vernacular. Nationalism, Multiculturalism, and Citizenship, Oxford i New York: Oxford University Press.
Lloyd, M. 2005 Beyond Identity Politics, London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage.
Modood, T., A. Triandafyllidou, i R. Zapata-barrero. 2006. Multiculturalism , Muslims and Citizenship. London i New York: Routledge.
Modood, T. 2013. Multiculturalism. Second edi. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Nicholson, L. 2008 Identity Before Identity Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taylor, C. 1994 'The Politics of Recognition' a A. Gutmann (ed) Multiculturalism. Examining the Politics of Recognition, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Young, I.M. 1990 Justice and the Politics of Difference, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Identity as a problem
Aguilera, A. 2015 ' Insuficiencias del reconocimiento para una apertura cosmopolita al otro', Papers. 100 (3): P. 325 – 344.
Balibar, E. 2004 We, the People of Europe? Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Bauman, Z. 1996 'From Pilgrim to Tourist - or a Short History of Identity' a S. Hall i P. du Gay (eds) Questions of Cultural Identity, London: Sage.
Bauman, Z. 2009 'Identity in the Globalizing World' in A. Elliott and P. du Gay (eds) Identity in Question, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi: Sage.
Beck, U. 2006, The Cosmopolitan Vision, Cambridge: Polity.
Beck, U. and Grande E. 2007, Cosmopolitan Europe, Cambridge: Polity.
Beck, U. 2013, German Europe, Cambridge: Polity.
Beck, U. and Beck-Gernsheim, E. 2002 Individualization, London: Sage.
Beck, U. and Beck-Gernsheim, E. 2014 Distant Love, Cambridge: Polity.
Benhabib, S. 2002 The Claims of Culture, Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Brubaker, R. and Cooper, F.2000 'Beyond ‘ identity ’', Theory and Society29(1): p.1–47.
Delanty, G. 2003. “Is There a European Identity?” Global Dialogue; Summer5(34).
Delanty, G. 2006. “The Cosmopolitan Imagination: Critical Cosmopolitanism and Social Theory.” The British Journal of Sociology51(1):25–47.
Delanty, G. 2018 The European Heritage, London and New York: Routledge.
Delanty, G. and C. Rumford. 2005. Rethinking Europe: Social Theory and the Implications of Europeanization. London and New York: Routledge.
Elliott, A. 2016 Identity Troubles, London and New York: Routledge.
Elliott, A. and du Gay, P. (eds) 2009 Identity in Question, London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage.
Habermas, J.1998 The Inclusion of the Other, Cambridge Mass: MIT Press.
Habermas, J, 2001 The Postnational Constellation, Cambridge Mass: MIT Press. (Part II)
Habermas, J, 2009 Europe. The Faltering Project, Cambridge: Polity.
Papastergiadis, N. 2010 'Understanding Hybrid Identities: From Mechanical Models to Complex Systems', World Futures66: p.243–265.
Schiller, N.G., Darieva, T. and Gruner-Domic, S. 2011 'Defining cosmopolitan sociability in a transnational age. An introduction', Ethnic and Racial Studies34(3): p.399–418.
Kymlicka, W. 2010 'The rise and fall of multiculturalism? New debates on inclusion and accommodation in diverse societies', International Social Science Journal199: p.97–112.
Nussbaum, M. 2002 For Love of Country?, Boston: Beacon Press.
Sennett, R. 1970 The Uses of Disorder, London and New York: Norton.
Sennett, R. 1998 The Corrosion of Character, New York: Norton.
Young, I.M. 2000 Inclusion and Democracy, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Cap 3.
Vertovec, S. 2010 'Towards Post-multiculturalism? Changing Communities, Conditions and Contexts of Diversity', International Social Science Journal199: p.83–95.
Vertovec, S. 2007 'Super-diversity and its implications', Ethnic and Racial Studies30(6): p.1024–1054.
Non-identity
Agier, M. 2016. Borderlands. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Balibar, É. 2006. “Strangers as Enemies : Further Reflections on the Aporias of Transnational Citizenship.” Globalization Working Papers. Université de Paris-X Nanterre and University of California, Irvine (06/4).
Balibar,E. 2010 'At the Borders of Citizenship: A Democracy in Translation?', European Journal of Social Theory13(3):p.315–322.
Beck, U. 1998. “How Neighbours Become Jews: The Political Construction of the Stranger in the Age of Reflexive Modernity.”Pp. 122–40 in Democracy Without Enemies, edited by U. Beck. Cambridge: Polity.
Bielsa, E. 2016 Cosmopolitanism and Translation. Investigations into the Experience of the Foreign, London i New York: Routledge. Cap. 2 i 3
Bielsa, E. and Aguilera A. 2017. “Politics of Translation: A Cosmopolitan Approach.” European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology 4(1):7–24.
Caneda, M.T. 2008 'Polyglot Voices, Hybrid Selves and Foreign Identities: Translation as a Paradigm of Thought for Modernism', Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies 30(June): p.53–67.
Cronin, M. 2006 Translation and Identity, London and New York: Routledge.
Ivekovic, R. 2005 'Transborder Translating', Eurozine: p.1–10. Available at: www.eurozine.com.
Mezzadra, S. i Brett N. 2013. Border as Method, Or, the Multiplication of Labor. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Rumford, C. 2014. Cosmopolitan Borders. Palgrave Macmillan.
Rumford, C. 2008. Cosmopolitan Spaces. London and New York: Routledge.
Saito, N. 2009 'Beyond Monolingualism: Philosophy as Translation and the Understanding of other cultures', Ethics and Education4(2): p.131–139.
Sakai, N. 2006 'Translation', Theory, Culture & Society23(2-3): p.71–78.
Sakai, N. 1997 Translation and Subjectivity, Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press.
Sennett, R. 2011 The Foreigner. Two Essays on Exile, London: Notting Hill Editions.
Simmel, G., Schütz, A.IElias, N.2012The Foreigner. Sociology of the Strange, Madrid: Ediciones Sequitur.
Simon,S. 1996 Gender in Translation, London and New York: Routledge.
Snell-Hornby, M. 2000 'Communicating in the Global Village: On Language, Translation and Cultural Identity' in C. Schäffner (ed) Translation in the Global Village, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.