‘Although there is no consensual definition of collective identity, discussions of the concept invariably suggest that its essence resides in a shared sense of ‘one-ness’ or ‘we-ness’ anchored in real or imagined shared attributes and experiences among those who comprise the collectivity and in relation or contrast to one or more actual imagined sets of ‘others’.
David Snow, Collective Identity and Expressive Forms
Shared Experiences:
Adolescence – physically and emotionally maturing
School/ Education
Finding work
Choosing a career
Finding love/friendship/acceptance
Creating an identity that isn’t created by school/parents/authority
Experimentation – drugs, culture, crime
Leaving home
CAN YOU ADD TO THE LIST
Shared attributes
Innocence
Frustration
Enthusiasm
Awkwardness
Hope
Anger
Powerlessness
Stress
CAN YOU ADD TO THE LIST
Who constructs the identity?
‘A collective identity may have been first constructed by outsiders who may still enforce it, but depends on some acceptance by those to whom it is applied.’
The adult dominant culture (or hegemony) that no longer sees ‘Youth’ as children but has yet to recognise them as adults.
Marketers/Mass Media who realise that the teen market is a lucrative one to exploit/sell to.
The Youth themselves that create sub-cultures and lifestyles different to the adult dominant culture.
Us vs Them
‘Clearly a collective identity in which the boundaries between “us” and “them” are unambiguously drawn, in which there is strong feeling about those differences, and in which there is a sense of moral virtue associated with both the perceptions and feelings, should be a more potent collective identity than one in which either the emotional or moral dimensions are weakly developed.’
David Snow, Collective Identity and Expressive Forms
Us – the youth, subcultures, social classes
Them – adults, authority, hegemony, dominant culture, other youth subcultures.