INTRODUCTION interviews with naturalized citizen in the
UK
- Relation between social representations
1. Conceptualized by scholars of social
and identity using the concept of position
representations, especially by Gerard
- Two conceptualizations for the terms
Duveen:
position and positioning:
- Successful in theorizing the social-
1. Duveen’s theorization of identity as
individual dynamics in processes of
position towards a social
identity construction
representation
- Role recognition in knowledge
2. Positioning theory’s concept of
construction processes
positions as discursive achievements
2. Positioning Theory:
- Purpose of the paper:
- Discursive approach
Elucidate links between social
- Power dynamics
representations and social identities
- Character of positions through a
Achieved by exploring the self-other
consideration of rights & duties associated
relations involved in identity
with identity positions
construction
POSITIONING AND SOCIAL
Identity:
REPRESENTATIONS
- Set of meanings about oneself (content)
Moscovici’s Social Representations Theory:
- Process which incorporates identifying
oneself - Based on a ‘systematic social psychology’
- Being recognized by others - Relationship between ego and object is
- Embedded in social relations mediated:
- Dynamic, contextual, and relational Intervention of another subject
- Social representations This relationship becomes a complex
- Dynamics of positioning between self triangular one, each term is then fully
and other define identities determined by the other two
- Relationship among self, other, and
Positioning:
object/representation forms the unit of
- Helps clarify the relational character of analysis in this theory
identity - Meaningfully questioning identity must
also entail inquiring about the self and
Two Conceptualizations of Positioning:
other
- Both approaches help elucidate the role of - Discussions on social representations as a
the ‘other’ in identity construction theory of social knowledge should also
- Regards to issues of identity legitimation include examining public discourses
and possibilities for change & negotiation - Different dialogues between Ego and the
- These claims are explicated by empirical Alter generate representations
data from a case study derived from
Gerard Duveen: Recognition can be hindered or
facilitated by the social representations
- Incorporated the self-other-object triangle
of gender
in his theorization of identity
Social representations of gender
- Social representations provide various
position men as more knowledgeable
possible identities:
than women
Allow people to position themselves in
Knowledge produced by men is
a variety of ways in relation to the
perceived as more ‘valid’ than the
symbolic field of culture
knowledge produced by women
- Help structure their social world and orient
- People ‘act through’ these social
themselves within this world
representations
- Social representations:
- These representations shape the
Provide meanings related to an object
interactions between people
and positions towards that object,
- Interactions characterized by recognition
these are then available for people
produced ‘intellectual exchange’ type
- Social identities:
process of knowledge construction
2 components:
- Resulted in the production of more original
1. Meanings
knowledge by children
2. Positions
Reflect individuals’ efforts to situate Social Representations:
themselves in their societies
- Quality of self-other relations shapes
In relation to the social representations
knowledge construction
of their societies
- Perspective, identity, and (mis-)recognition
- Identities can be defined as positions in
are crucial in social representation
relation to social representations
processes
- People make sense of themselves and
- Provide people with a variety of positions
their experiences by drawing on and
- Positions are further elaborated by one’s
reconstructing social representations
relations with an ‘other’
Role of Identity:
Positioning Theory:
- Structuring the communitive practices
- Stemming form a discourse-oriented
linked with knowledge construction
framework can contribute to our
- Piaget’s distinction between symmetric
understanding of positioning processes
and asymmetric social relations
and self-other interaction through the
(cooperation & constraint)
concepts of rights and duties
Role of Recognition in Cognitive Development:
- Mediation of social representations of
gender in communication process and
their impact on knowledge
- Results of these studies:
SELF AND OTHER POSITIONING IN voices and produce more 'valid'
DISCOURSE representations, and are thus more
entitled to speak and to be heard
Subject Position
INTEGRATING THE 2 APPROACHES:
The process of knowing where your
RECOGNITION AND MORAL ORDER
position is in discourse
Recognition or the absence of recognition
Positioning
Key issue in knowledge and identity
Less on personhood, and more on your
construction
role
An individual may be recognized as
Societal discourse gives a range of
knowledgeable or misrecognized as
positions or a set of categories that people
unknowledgeable
can identify with, as well as with their
A matter of legitimacy as defined by
meanings
existing power dynamics and social
'Doing identities'
hierarchies
Incorporates both location and repertoire for
Issues of legitimacy and entitlement are
persons within the structure of rights and
intertwined with the allocation of rights and
duties for those who use that repertoire.
duties
Location and Repertoire
Example: Girls are seen as less
o Repertoire definition: set of skills,
knowledgeable than boys, and thus had
abilities, experiences, etc.,
the duty of listening to boys and have
possessed by a person.
limited rights to contribute to further
o When positioned, a person sees
knowledge
the world from that vantage point
o There was an unequal distribution
Rights and Duties
of 'epistemic responsibility'
o Positioning involves both self and
It can be argued that moral orders are the
other positions
normative aspect of the social rules that
The adoption of a position
define gender identity positions
always assumes a position
for the 'other' or the Recognition and misrecognition define the
interlocutor as well quality of self-other relations.
o Power Dynamics shape Rights and duties provide the detailed view of
interactions through moral order. the quality of the positions toward the 'other'
o Every position has a moral quality in these relations.
in the sense that we have a set of
rights and duties that deposit what
can be said and done
Example: On an inter-group level,
dominant groups have more legitimate
- she is legitimated because she has
fulfilled her duty to learn ‘the norms and
NATURALISATION AND IDENTITY POSITIONS
values’
- interview study with thirty-three naturalized
citizens of the United Kingdom
British citizens that took part in the research
- familiar with stereotypes and
discrimination against migrants in Britain.
Participant (exemplified in the reading)
- born in China and has Chinese origins, but
has been living in Britain since she was a
young child.
- defined herself predominantly as British
even before acquiring the British
citizenship.
- Comparing herself to the ‘norm’ this
participant ‘lacks’ Britishness because she
has Chinese heritage
‘social mobility’
- a strategy
- changing of name and citizenship
misrecognition
- participant argues that she ‘feels like an
outsider’
- representations of Britishness and
immigration as well as the institutionalized
practices of naturalization position her in
the same group as ‘newcomers’
moral order (in this situation)
- she has the right/legitimacy to be British
and
- the duty to assimilate to Britishness by
dissociating herself from her Chinese
background.
