What did everyone think of the lecture on Wednesday? These are some of the things I got from it:
If we start talking about real / fake and authentic and inauthentic I think we need to define these terms or else we will be running around in circles, also having definitions stops the excuse of subjectivity becoming an answer or the reason for a lack of an answer.
If authenticity has been set up culturally as being good, then we have to be able to define it because we created its parameters. This then creates a point of reference that we are speaking from.
Authentic is not inherently good, so why do we prefer authentic over inauthentic?
Do we look to history to create identity or do we look to what is going on right now. Exterior and interior influences/ conditions all act on identity and how we form identity.
What do you guys think about identity? Can identity change? or is it something that continues the same through life?
1 comment:
"Grab a beer and have a seat..."
I think that the value of identity has changed over the years in response to evolving societal conditions. Before and during the modern period, the value of identity was placed in high esteem. We talked about the titles that people associated with their identities: Doctor, Architect, Soldier, etc.
I think that this is still true today, however the there has been a shift in importance from a 'singular identity' to multiple identities (I am a student and a mother and a wife and an office worker...). People today take great pride in being the 'Jack of all Trades'. This could be consequential to the growing percentage of temporary employment and the decrease in job security and/or due to the explosion of technology and information that has freed up time allowing people to take on multiple focuses in life.
What I have always found interesting about living in the information age is that the struggle to maintain a 'unique identity' has become virtually impossible. Even the social renegades form part of an expanded social subgrouping, a worldwide network of like-minded people. The goths in Winnipeg look like the goths in the Netherlands who also look like the goths in Australia, etc. The search for identity has become a journey of a lifetime...you always hear older people saying that they still don't know what to do with their lives. I wonder if the phenomena of the 'mid-life crisis' is not directly related to the post-modern condition.
I think life was a little more cut and dry during historic times. You knew your place in society, your birthright, the conditions you were born into determined your identity. Today, that is not the case. You can be born in the roughest area of town and become a millionaire. Of course that happened back in history, but today this is commonplace. There is no sure thing in today's society. Growing up in this age is incredibly difficult. The 'temporary contracts' that have formed our environments have shaped our existence, the way we negotiate through life. I find myself constantly renegotiating my own existence/purpose on this planet....where once upon a time renegotiations in one's life may have happened a few times (these were often quite momentus changes), today we renegotiate our lifves on a daily basis. (Do I want to quit my job? change degrees? Or do I need to have a change of place?) These renegotiations are just a part of our every day dealings within the fast-paced, always fluxing age of 'too much information'.
Post a Comment