Interpreting Identities
Dimensions of Power, Presence, and Belonging
Edited by Wayne Brekhus and Susie Scott
ISBN
978-1529228144Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressISBN
978-1529228168Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University Press
Interpreting Identities
This edited collection brings together social scientists to interpret identity from a wide range of analytical perspectives. Drawing on multiple interpretive traditions from the last 100 years, the book explores how underlying social, cultural and psychological forces shape the dimensions of identity.
Chapters emphasize how identity forms and functions in relation to key sociological issues such as social power, social control and the production and reproduction of social inequalities. Contributors also explore the flexibility of identities, showcasing how different perspectives and analytical tools reveal the nuances of rejected, unrealized and aspirational identities. By navigating these dimensions, the book reveals the interplay between personal biography and broader social life.
“With insightful analyses, exciting data and theoretical enquiries that directly address today’s rather intricate academic discussions about identity and power, this book becomes both a page-turner and an analytical exemplar.” David Wästerfors, Lund University
Wayne Brekhus is Professor of Sociology at the University of Missouri.
Susie Scott is Professor of Sociology at the University of Sussex.
1. Introduction: Dimensions of Power, Presence, and Belonging in Contemporary Social Identities - Wayne H. Brekhus and Susie Scott
Part 1: Interpreting Intersectional Identities: Unmarked Privilege and Marked Otherness
2. ”Way Down South in the Land of Cotton, Where Being White Is Not Forgotten”: White Southerners’ Negotiations of Identity and Advantage - James M. Thomas (JT), Madeline Burdine, and Erin Oakes
3. Trans Men Navigating Male Privilege and the Complexities of Intersectional Identities - Armani Beck
4. Expanding or Rejecting National Identities? Identity Work and Anti-Racism among Racialized Minorities in Norway - Mette Andersson
5. Standing up to Power: Black Women, Resistance Capital, and Intersectional Identities on College Campuses - Veronica A. Newton
Part 2: Negative Negotiations: Reverse, Rejected, Unmarked, and Aspirational Identities
6. Are We What We (Don’t) Consume? From Negative Possible Selves to Identity Refusal in Consumption Contexts - Emma Banister
7. Questions of Identity and Belonging among Hyper-Mobile Professionals - Patrizia Hoyer
8. Not Feeling Old but Looking Old? The Shaping of Identities and Non-Identities among Older Adults during a Pandemic - Emilia Leinonen
9. No-Body Relations and Negative Negotiations: Selfhood After Traumatic Loss - Georgie Akehurst
10. Afterword: Interpreting Intersectional Identities and Negative Negotiations - Wayne H. Brekhus and Susie Scott
