INTRODUCTION
(Notions of Identity):
- Identity is constructed, originating and being maintained in relational processes and through the application of power and the labelling of difference or otherness.
- Identity originates (externally) in language (not internally) and is maintained internally and externally through discourses and discursive practices.
- Identities are historically and geographically contingent, and thus change within different contexts and circumstances.
- As a result, identities are not unified, solid and stable, but are maintained, changeable and often contradictory
INTRODUCTION (
Identity in Online World):
- The degree of anonymity that is possible in online environments creates a freedom not attainable in the offline world.
- That a person can perform whatever identity one chooses, because online identities are based primarily on self-descriptive text that can be crafted in any manner desired by the user.
- That multiple selves can be explored in parallel, creating an environment of identity shifting, hybridity and fluidity.
- That identities can be created that are impossible in offline worlds.
Mind - World: The Body and Self
- Dualisme
- Conscious - unconscious
- Ego - Superego - Id
- Sensorik - memori - motorik
Digital liberation
- to escape the physical limitations placed upon their own bodies in the material world
- to supersede the social constraints that are widely enforced by the embodied discourses of race, gender, age and so on
- the full expression of our inner selves in an environment where we face no physical harm as a result of those expressions
Cybersex
Voyeurism
The pleasure of looking relates to the gratification that is derived from gazing upon what is symbolically marked as pleasurable.
Identification
This is a form of pleasure derived from the temporary transference of the self-identification of the viewer to the body being shown on the screen.
Degenerasi Digital
- A graphical expression of oppressive social norms defining beauty, power and sexuality
- A violation of divine laws that govern sexual modesty
- Evidence of widespread insecurity about our ‘real’ bodies
- An expression of an urgent desire to comply with (impossible) social expectations about sexual performance
- Responding to a profound alienation from human intimacy
- A final symbolic retreat from the pursuit of interpersonal relations in a material form
Photo-Realism
4 Tahapan Simulakra:
First-order simulation
a consciously artificial representation of the real, intended to be read as such (e.g., a chemical photograph of my house)
Second-order simulation
where the symbolic representation of the real is given a reality of its own (e.g., a map of France is a powerful symbol of social identity)
Third-order simulation
where the dominant mode of representation has no necessary relationship to (or need for) a source of reality (e.g., any image produced through the abstract calculations of computers)
Orders of reality
Physical reality
this is the subjective experience of life that privileges the material world that we can touch, that we can assess empirically and to which we are bound biologically
Hyper reality
this is the subjective experience of life that gives meaning to the world, located in the symbolic order of language; this is the dominant arena of social communication.
Virtual reality
this is the subjective experience of life existing purely through the sensory experiences that frame the viewer within a fictional domain, whether alone or with others
Representasi Diri
- Erving Goffman
- In many of our social interactions, we are performing a version of ourselves to match the situation that we are taking part in
- When an individual enters the presence of others, they commonly seek to acquire information about him or to bring into play information about him already possessed
- The ‘true’ or ‘real’ attitudes, beliefs, and emotions of the individual can be ascertained only indirectly
- Pierre Bourdieu
- economic capital – what (material) you have
- social capital – who you know
- cultural capital – what you know and understand
- technical capital – the skills you have
Catatan Akhir
Kondisi fisik merupakan representasi dari mekanisme diri yang rumit. Dualisme mind-body menggambarkan betapa diri kita diatur oleh aspek conscious dan unconscious. Inilah yang dalam konstruksi psikologis Freudian disebut “ego”. Sementara itu, interaksi dengan dunia sosial membentuk “superego” atau kondisi ideal yang menjadi ekspektasi publik. Hal ini, secara intensional, mendorong seseorang untuk menekan “id”-nya untuk menampilkan “ego” yang dapat diterima oleh publik. Oleh karena itu, ego yang kita namakan identitas ini merupakan konstruksi diri kita yang didasarkan pada apa yang ideal menurut standar sosial.
Dalam dunia online, pembentukan identitas itu dilakukan secara lebih ekstrem. Dunia online memungkinkan berbagai modifikasi untuk merepresentasikan diri secara lebih fleksibel dan fluid. Selain itu, dunia online juga membentuk norma sosial yang baru karena faktor keluasan jaringan dan penyebarannya. Bukan hanya identitas dan norma yang baru saja, tetapi juga bahkan realitas yang baru. Baudrillard mengemukakan tentang bagaimana internet mampu menciptakan simulasi hingga hiperrealitas.
Goffman, melalui dramaturginya, mengatakan bahwa realitas yang ditampilkan merupakan front stage. Terminologi front stage ini memiliki similaritas yang erat dengan apa yang dikatakan oleh Freud dalam “ego”. Sementara itu, back stage adalah “id”.
Bourdieu melihat konstruksi identitas dalam dunia online sebagai kapital. Struktur kelas menjadi lebih kompleks (atau bahkan tidak bisa diidentifikasi) karena perluasan konsep kapital. Apa yang ditampilkan di front stage (jika meminjam terminologi dari Goffman) merupakan manifestasi dari kapital.