The Idea of Identification

Gary C. Woodward

Description

Illustrated with interesting examples drawn from politics and art, The Idea of Identification draws on classical social and rhetorical theories to establish a systematic framework for understanding the varieties and forms of identification. Woodward references a variety of contexts in contemporary life to explore the rhetorical conditions that create powerful and captivating moments. By invoking the influential ideas of Kenneth Burke, George Herbert Mead, Joshua Meyrowitz and others, he shows how the rhetorical process of identification is separate from psychological theories of identity construction. Woodward concludes with an argument that film theory has perhaps offered the most vivid descriptive categories for understanding the bonds of identification.

Preface

1. Origins of an Idea

2. Conceptualizing Identification: Extensions of a Burkean View

3. Identification, Celebrity, and the Hollywood Film

4. Serenades to the Resistant: Successful Uses of Identification

5. Misidentification and Its Sources

6. Identification and Commitment in Civic Culture

Notes

Index

Sujets

• Discourse analysis
• Communication studies
• Stylistics
• Semantics

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 4
• EAN13: 9780791486474
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

THE IDEA OF IDENTIFICATION

SUNY series in Communication Studies Dudley D. Cahn, editor

THE IDEA OF IDENTIFICATION

❖

Gary C. Woodward

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2003 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production by Judith Block Marketing by Jennifer Giovani

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Woodward, Gary C. The idea of identification / Gary C. Woodward. p. cm. — (SUNY series in communication studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-5 819-9 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914- 5820-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Self—Social aspects. 2. Identification. 3. Identity (Philosophical concept) 4. Social interaction. I. Title. II. Series.

BF697.5.S65W66 2003 302'.1—dc21 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2002044797

To Dean and Diane ❖

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Preface

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Origins of an Idea

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Conceptualizing Identification: Extensions of a Burkean View

Identification, Celebrity, and the Hollywood Film

Serenades to the Resistant: Successful Uses of Identification

Misidentification and Its Sources

Identification and Commitment in Civic Culture

Notes

Index

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As the umbrella term for the sensation of shared experience, “identification” encompasses a physiology, a psychology, and a strong social dimension. The intellectual history of the term is perhaps most closely associated with Sigmund Freud. But the generative ideas for this book follow a different thread that originates most compellingly in the work of the literary and rhetorical critic, Ken- neth Burke. Even though Freud was among the many influences on Burke, the principle starting point here is not the evolution and construction of the self. It is, instead, in the aesthetic and socio- rhetorical processes of identification: processes that play out in transient messages that have fleetingly captured a sense of common understanding. In place of the program of psychology, which tends to focus on who we “are” or wish to be, the essential realm of communication is on the construction of meaning that places us inside a larger community. Where the psychology of the self is measured in phases that unfold over a lifetime, communication is more transitory and unstable: more clearly “in the moment.” To be sure, the line that separates rhetorical and aesthetic uses of identification from the psychological is a thin and illusive one, as imprecise as the threshold that divides identification from iden- tity. There are times when the view is improved by crossing over these vague boundaries to get a different perspective from the other side. But there are no simple theoretical or methodological solu- tions to the challenging conceptual problems related to the assess- ment of rhetorical effects. Meaning generated through discourse is subjective rather than uniform. It must beinterpretedthrough the filter of one’s biography rather thanmeasuredin electrochemical processes of thought. Our biology gives us wonderful equipment with which to establish awareness and significance. And we have learned a good deal about where sensory, memory, and associational

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