identity discursive essay

Handbook of Identity Theory and Research pp 177–199 Cite as

Discourse and Identity Construction

• Michael Bamberg 4 ,
• Anna De Fina 5 &
• Deborah Schiffrin 6  
• First Online: 01 January 2011

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We describe and discuss discursive approaches emerging over the last 50 years that in one way or another have contributed to identity studies. Approaching identities as constructed in and through discourse, we start by differentiating between two competing views of construction: one that moves progressively from existing “capital-D” social discourses to the domain of identity and sense of self and the other working its way up from “small-d” discursive practices to identities and sense of self as emerging in interaction. We take this tension as our point of departure for a discussion of different theoretical and analytical lenses, focusing on how they have emerged as productive tools for theorizing the construction of identity and for doing empirical work. Three dimensions of identity construction are distinguished and highlighted as dilemmatic but deserving prominence in the discursive construction of identity: (a) the navigation of agency in terms of a person-to-world versus a world-to-person directionality; (b) the differentiation between self and other as a way to navigate between uniqueness and a communal sense of belonging and being the same as others; and (c) the navigation of sameness and change across one’s biography or parts thereof. The navigation of these three identity dilemmas is exemplified in the analysis of a stretch of conversational data, in which we bring together different analytic lenses (such as narrative, performative, conversation analytic, and positioning analysis), before concluding this chapter with a brief discussion of some of the merits and potential shortcomings of discursive approaches to identity construction.

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• Discursive Practice
• Identity Construction
• Critical Discourse Analysis
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Bamberg, M., De Fina, A., Schiffrin, D. (2011). Discourse and Identity Construction. In: Schwartz, S., Luyckx, K., Vignoles, V. (eds) Handbook of Identity Theory and Research. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7988-9_8

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Discourse and Identity

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• Language: English
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• Copyright year: 2006
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• Keywords: Language & Linguistics
• Published: March 15, 2006
• ISBN: 9780748626533

Introduction

Research on language and identity has experienced an unprecedented growth in the last ten years. The time when scholars in the field needed to advocate for the centrality of language in the study of identity (see for example, Benveniste 1971 in linguistics or Bruner 1990 in social psychology) seems far away indeed. Research in fields as diverse as anthropology, linguistics, psychology, sociology, history, literature, gender studies, and social theory, among others, has now firmly established the fundamental role of linguistic processes and strategies in the creation, negotiation and establishment of identities. It is impossible to give a comprehensive view of the theoretical work in all of these areas and of how it has shaped identity studies. Our aim with this introduction is more modest: we want to briefly discuss some of the approaches and concepts that have had the greatest impact on current visions of identity, beginning with background perspectives and then turning to central constructs underlying the chapters in the volume. We then present an overview of the volume and a conclusion recapitulating some of the common ground among the contributors.

Background perspectives

Here we describe several approaches to the study of discourse and identity that pervade the chapters in the volume. We begin with those that have become widely accepted in research on discourse and identity and conclude with some that produce potential divisions in the ways scholars examine discourse and identity.

Perhaps the most general perspective, one that provides a very basic way of thinking about identity, is social constructionism (e.g. Berger and Luckman 1967; Hall 1966; Kroskrity 2000): the assumption that identity is neither a given nor a product. Rather, identity is a process that (1) takes place in concrete and specific interactional occasions, (2) yields constellations of identities instead of individual, monolithic constructs, (3) does not simply emanate from the individual, but results from processes of negotiation, and entextualization (Bauman and Briggs 1990) that are eminently social, and (4) entails “discursive work” (Zimmerman and Wieder 1970).

Social constructionism has generated a great deal of research on the use of linguistic strategies in discursive work to convey and build identities, on the emergence in interaction of conflicting versions of the self, and therefore on the existence of “repertoires of identities” (Kroskrity 1993), and on the effects of interlocutors, audiences and other social actors on the unfolding of identities in concrete social occasions. In brief, social constructionism has contributed to dissipating transcendentalist conceptions of identity and to directing the attention of researchers to social action rather than to psychological constructs.

Recent scholarship has also emphasized that identity is a process that is always embedded in social practices (Foucault 1984) within which discourse practices (Fairclough 1989) have a central role. Both social and discourse practices frame, and in many ways define, the way individuals and groups present themselves to others, negotiate roles, and conceptualize themselves. Taking the concept of practice as central to processes of identity formation and expression entails looking more closely at ways in which definitions of identity change and evolve in time and space, ways in which membership is established and negotiated within new boundaries and social locations, and ways in which activity systems (Goodwin 1999) impact on processes of identity construction.

Another defining trend in recent research has been the analysis of processes of categorization and membership definition . Taking inspiration from early work by Sacks on category bound activities and processes (1972, 1995), scholars in the Membership Categorization Analysis movement (Antaki and Widdicombe 1998b) have drawn attention to the fact that identity construction is often related to the definition of categories for inclusion or exclusion of self and others, and to their identification with typical activities and routines. This, in turn, has prompted a reflection on the nature of identification categories and on the relationship between individual identity and group membership.

Recent approaches to categorization have highlighted the limitations of applying pre-established categorizations, emphasizing instead the locally occasioned, fluid and ever-changing nature of identity claims. Identity claims are seen as “acts” through which people create new definitions of who they are. Such a conception defies traditional sociolinguistic approaches that link already established social categories with language variables, regarding instead “the very fact of selecting from a variety of possibilities a particular variant (on a given occasion) as a way of actively symbolizing one's affiliations” (Auer 2002: 4). Thus identities are seen not as merely represented in discourse, but rather as performed, enacted and embodied through a variety of linguistic and non-linguistic means.

A third important trend in identity studies has been the development of an anti-essentialist vision of the ‘self.’ Work in gender studies and discursive psychology has been crucial in this respect. Gender studies have greatly contributed to our postmodern rejection of the self as something that people possess and that represents some kind of core essence of the person (Bucholtz et al . 1999). Gender scholars have shown that people can display “polyphonous” identities, i.e. simultaneously assume voices that are associated with different identity categories, and that they can “perform” identities, i.e. represent themselves as different from what their personal “visible” characteristics would suggest (Barrett 1999), therefore concluding that there is nothing given or “natural” about being part of a social category or group. The inadequacy of an essentialist notion of identity as being embodied in the ‘self’ has also been noted by discursive psychologists who move away from a “predefined model of the human actor” (Potter 2003) towards the investigation of how the psychological categories used to describe or define the ‘self’ are themselves configured according to specific social practices and relationships.

Work in these perspectives has also stressed the centrality of processes of indexicality in the creation, performance and attribution of identities. Indexicality is thus a fourth overarching concept subsuming many of the theoretical constructs used to study identities: it connects utterances to extra-linguistic reality via the ability of linguistic signs to point to aspects of the social context. The connection between indexicality and identity has been a focus of attention in linguistics and anthropology since early work on deixis, particularly on shifters (see Benveniste 1971; Silverstein 1976) pointed to the indissoluble nexus established by these linguistic elements between the speaker and the utterance act.

Both linguists and anthropologists recognize the importance of pronouns in anchoring language to specific speakers in specific contexts and in signaling the reciprocal changes in the roles of interactants through their performance of, and engagement in, communicative acts. For example, linguistic signs at this referential level (Silverstein 1976) identify speakers not only in terms of their conversational roles or gender identity, but also in terms of how they orient to elements of the speech situation such as time and place. By using locatives and time expressions – as well as personal pronouns – language users point to their roles not only as speakers or addressees, but also to their location in time and space and to their relationship to others (present or absent).

Incorporation of the context is in itself a dynamic process through which speakers build their positions within what Hanks (1992) has named “the indexical ground.” By carrying out acts of reference, interactants continuously constitute and reconstitute their positions with respect to each other, to objects, places and times. Thus, indexing aspects of the context can never be reduced to a simple act of orientation in physical space or to the mere signaling of alternations in speech roles. Indexicality is a layered, creative, interactive process that lies at the heart of the symbolic workings of language. The idea that signs are indexical goes beyond simple referential anchoring to encompass the ability of linguistic expressions to evoke, and relate to, complex systems of meaning such as socially shared conceptualizations of space and place, ideologies, social representations about group membership, social roles and attributes, presuppositions about all aspects of social reality, individual and collective stances, practices and organization structures.

The approaches and concepts briefly outlined above rest on basic, and generally accepted, assumptions about the relationships between discourse, identity and social processes. However, scholars of identity are also deeply divided on several theoretical and methodological issues.

At opposite extremes are two approaches: the one sustained by scholars working within the frame of Conversation Analysis and the one advocated by scholars working within the frame of Critical Discourse Analysis. The division is not exclusive to the study of identity. Rather, it derives from different conceptions of the relationship between language and social life, of the role of the researcher, and of the methodology to be followed in data collection and analysis. Scholars in the field of Conversation Analysis advocate methodological restraint, according to which analysts need to “hold off from using all sorts of identities which one might want to use in, say, a political or cultural frame of analysis” (Antaki and Widdicombe 1998a: 5) and look exclusively for categories of identity membership that are made relevant in the local context by participants. In this view, identities are locally occasioned in talk-in-interaction, they are consequential for the interaction at hand, and therefore participants clearly “orient” to them. The researcher's task is then to reconstruct the processes of adscription and negotiation of identities as they are manifested within the activity in which participants are engaged. These arguments echo Schegloff's polemic stance against the imposition of ad hoc interpretive categories by “politically informed” analysts. Schegloff (1997: 168) argued that only after analyzing the interactional event “in its endogenous constitution, what it was for the parties involved in it, in its course, as embodied and displayed in the very details of its realization – can we even begin to explore what forms a critical approach to it might take, and what political issue, if any, it allows us to address.” Accordingly, within this approach, the only relevant context to understand the emergence of identities in interaction is the local context.

At the other extreme of the spectrum are scholars who identify with Critical Discourse Analysis (Billig 1999). In their view, the contexts that are relevant to the expression, negotiation and perpetuation of identities are much wider, since identities are, in many ways, produced and often imposed upon individuals and groups through dominant discourse practices and ideologies. From their perspective, keeping the analysis at the level of the local interaction only means ignoring how power struggles and wider social circumstances constrain and frame the way identities are perceived and projected in specific interactions. The consequence of such a stance is that Critical Discourse Analysts tend to privilege the analysis of political and ideological contexts in the formation of identities and concentrate on the representation of identities much more than on their projection or negotiation in interaction.

Our aim in this volume is not to argue for one position against the other, or to promote a particular agenda, but to offer analyses and reflections that can be taken as a basis for discussion by scholars who endorse different perspectives. In this sense, the volume differs from other collections in its inclusion of a range of approaches and its coverage of a variety of identities and texts/contexts: rather than share a single theoretical orientation, contributors come from different traditions and fields and use varying methodological tools. As we describe in the next section , however, several constructs re-appear throughout the volume, thus providing some overarching theoretical and methodological frameworks for the volume as a whole.

Overarching themes, underlying constructs and persistent questions

Contributors to Discourse and Identity employ a variety of specific theoretical approaches and methodological orientations, including Narrative Analysis, Conversation Analysis, Interactional Sociolinguistics, and Critical Discourse Analysis. Yet all share an anti-essentialist orientation, a discourse and practice centered approach to identity, and a close focus on the interactional and local management of social categories and language along with consideration of the effects of global processes on the management of local identities. Before turning to an overview of the volume, then, we highlight some of the overarching themes and underlying constructs that find application in the volume and discuss their relevance to the linguistic analysis of identity. We present each construct as a general question that is answered through the concepts and methods (the tools, the “nuts and bolts”) comprised through each construct.

Positioning: How do the relationships we “take up” through (a) linguistically realized action and (b) interactions with different facets of our social, cultural and ideological worlds contribute to “who we are”?

Analyses of positioning build on the insight that identity is socially constructed at several levels: through relationships between the speaker and what is being said (including both means of production and evaluative or epistemic stance); through relationships between self and other, or speaker and hearer, in face-to-face occasions of talk and interaction; through relationships represented in the propositional content of talk (what is one textual character doing to another textual character?); through relationships to the dominant ideologies, widespread social practices and underlying power structures drawn together as Discourse (Gee 1996). One of the goals of positioning theory is to more clearly identify the mechanisms through which linguistic and social processes become reified as observable products that may be glossed by others as “identities.”

If the practices in which we routinely engage are viewed as central to processes of identity formation, what kind of personal agency is inscribed in these practices? While some researchers focus more strongly on social and institutional factors that constrain and delineate the radius of agency for individuals and groups of individuals, others credit groups and individuals with an agency that enables them to more than comply with such societal forces. This latter orientation is particularly interested in the agentive role of participants in interactions as being able to counter dominant practices, discourses and master narratives.

Scholars who have developed positioning theory (e.g. Bamberg 1997b, 2005; Davies and Harré 1990; Harré and van Langenhove 1999; Hollway 1984) investigate agency as bi-directional. On the one hand, historical, sociocultural forces in the form of dominant discourses or master narratives position speakers in their situated practices and construct who they are without their agentive involvement. On the other hand, speakers position themselves as constructive and interactive agents and choose the means by which they construct their identities vis-à-vis others as well as vis-à-vis dominant discourses and master narratives.

Positioning provides a central theoretical construct and valuable tool for analyzing identity in this volume. Authors investigate the linguistic mechanisms and discourse strategies that allow individual speakers to place themselves in positions of acceptance or rejection, for example, of ideologies of race, gender, or widely held conceptions about family roles and relationships (Bell, Moita-Lopes, Wortham and Gadsden). Linguistic strategies for projecting and constructing particular personas include modalization, constructed dialogue, meta-pragmatic descriptors and pronouns. Authors also suggest that speakers build positions vis-à-vis their former selves through the management of time categories in the reconstruction of their life experiences, since they look back at what happened in the past through the vantage point of their present experiences, therefore engaging in an ever evolving interpretation of their roles and lives (Bell, Mishler).

Authors also address the theoretical ramifications of the concept of positioning through discussion of the many facets of identity that can be the object of discursive work. Interlocutors can assume stances not only towards ideologies, but also towards absent others (e.g. characters and their actions in stories), and towards each other. Thus, in different chapters, interviewers and interviewees are shown using strategies such as the application of labels, the use of discourse responses or even silence after questions, to position each other in particular ways (Baynham, Bell, Johnson).

Investigating levels of identity construction as a process of positioning, and discovering the means adopted to enact various positions, leads to reflecting on the many ways of doing identity, ranging from the proclamation and open assignment of membership into social categories to the enactment of different kinds of selves, to indirect conveying of alignments and disalignments, to the implicit placement of social agents into pre-assigned roles. Analyses of positioning can thus productively connect the local focus of conversation analytic and the more global focus of critical discourse analytic approaches. They can also help elucidate the embrace of, or resistance to, imposed identities through narrative, as well as through other discourse genres, discursive practices and Discourse writ large. While positioning thus constitutes a sort of umbrella for different ways of constructing identity in discourse, other more specific constructs are also used by contributors in this volume to account for particular aspects of identity work.

Interaction order: “Who are we” when we are interacting with one another in face-to-face talk?

The investigation of the interaction order as a central site for the construction of identities provides a significant site of analysis, and area of reflection, in the chapters collected in this volume. Many authors illustrate how a multiplicity of identities are managed through social interactions by building upon Goffman's work as a fundamental point of departure because of his insights on the importance of reciprocity in communication and on the fundamental presence of the ‘other’ in the public management of the self. This relational view of communication has an immediate relevance for the analysis of identity work through the constructs of footing (“the alignment we take up to ourselves and the others present as expressed in the way we manage the production or reception of an utterance” (1981: 128)), and “face” (the positive social attributes that a person claims for him or herself in the course of social interaction (1967a)).

The management of this relational level underlies a great deal of identity work in private and public exchanges and conversations (Bastos and Oliveira, Holmes, Ribeiro). Authors illustrate how the presentation of a positive face to others underlies the choice of referring terms or the telling of stories or anecdotes and the provision of details within them: both can depict the self as a “figure” whose actions, interactions and relationships within specific story-worlds have potential relevance for the interaction. Also shown is how the identities presented by clients of public services, or by people in the work place, are shaped by the need to preserve an image of oneself which is consistent with the requirements and exigencies of the situation, the interaction, and the needs of the interlocutors. Problematizing and deconstructing face work, then, leads analysts to interpret the presentation and enactment of particular identities not so much as expressions of the ‘self,’ but rather as constructions that take into account both the objectives of interactional practices, and the constraints of institutional structures, that are “in play” when people communicate with each other.

Analysis of interactional processes is also based on a fundamental principle of intersubjectivity that allows identities to be achieved and built through reciprocal moves between interactants (Schiffrin). Partners in storytelling events may build dominant positions within close knit groups by consistently taking up roles as co-narrators or evaluators of the narratives told by others (Georgakopoulou). Interactants can project identifications or rejections towards their partners through cooperative or uncooperative management of conversation (Johnson, Holmes). They can also confirm and fine tune local identities that place them in relationships with others (such as “expert” versus “novice”) through the use of repair in referring sequences (Schiffrin). Many chapters in this volume show how the management of interactional resources, such as those described above, can become central to people's intersubjective construction of identities.

Footing, multivocality and intertextuality: “Who” is speaking “whose” words and what role are they taking in the “speech”?

The question of “who” is speaking “whose” words – and the incorporation of other voices and texts in the here and now – has been examined from sociological, linguistic and literary perspectives, many of which underlie the chapters in this volume.

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9 Discourse, Communication, and Identity

Timothy Kuhn is a Professor at the Department of Communication, University of Colorado Boulder.

Jayne Simpson is a Doctoral Researcher at the Department of Communication, University of Colorado Boulder.

• Published: 05 February 2020
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Across theories of identity and subjectivity, discourse and communication are central, constitutive elements. This chapter clarifies conceptions of these notions and portrays them as separate yet connected. It then reviews four broad lines of theorizing identity in which discourse and communication are prominent: Social Identity Theory (SIT), narrative theorizing, critical/poststructural approaches, and emerging relational ontologies. In addition to drawing out contrasting conceptions of agency marking the four perspectives, the chapter shows how discourse and communication are central to the existence, persistence, and transformation of identities. To do so, the chapter employs illustrations from sports fandom, branding, and peer bullying. The key insight of the chapter is that, across these four traditions, discourse and communication are increasingly understood not as representational, but as constitutive: identities do not draw upon discourse and communication to express or represent themselves, but instead are generated, sustained, and altered exclusively in and through discursive and communicative practices.

Introduction

Accompanying social theory’s turn to language in the early decades of the twentieth century was an interrogation of dominant models of the person. Pragmatists, in response to seventeenth-century philosophers who depicted the self 1 as a cognitive construct transcending experiences (Taylor, 1989 ), overhauled our conceptions of personhood by suggesting that theorizing personhood ought to address how selves experience everyday life. In so doing, they relocated the source of the self from inside (cognition) to outside (the social surround) and, thus, portrayed the experiencing subject as irredeemably bound up in communication processes (Holstein and Gubrium, 2000 ). Mead ( 1934 : 233) represents this stance well: ‘the individual reaches his [ sic ] self only through a process of communication with others, only through the elaboration of social processes by means of significant communication’. Pragmatist thinking, therefore, argued for the primacy of communication and discourse in the emergence and ongoing accomplishment of the self; a transcendent consciousness took a back seat.

This chapter explores the legacy of this ontological shift for contemporary conceptions of personal identity (see also Alvesson, 2010 ; Brown, 2017 ; Kenny et al., 2011 ). We argue that scholars who have inherited a pragmatist conception of the centrality of discourse and communication nevertheless operate from contrasting definitions of these notions, which lead their claims about identity and its significance in organizing in rather different directions. To review these streams of thought, our discussion considers Social Identity Theory (SIT), narrative theorizing, critical and poststructuralist thought, and relational ontologies. Before engaging with these literatures, however, we describe and differentiate ‘discourse’ and ‘communication’, the twin notions upon which our review is based.

Conceptualizing Discourse and Communication

The aforementioned attention to discourse and communication has occasioned great interest in the power of these concepts, but—perhaps unsurprisingly—also generated a surfeit of conceptualizations. As Kuhn and Putnam ( 2014 ) note, these notions—like those guiding any vibrant field—have no single canonical definition; instead, they are multiple, contested, and shifting. In other words, there is no simple and stable answer to what discourse and communication ‘are’: it is important to review these, however, to provide some basic claims with which the chapter’s presentation of theories of personal identity can engage.

In organization studies, discourse is typically understood in terms of language, talk, and text. Some consider discourse to be a verbal structure, some see it as action and interaction in society akin to conversation (‘language in use’), some render it as cognition, and others define it as the social context surrounding action. These distinctions are seen in Alvesson and Kärreman ( 2000 ), who build on Gee’s ( 1999 ) division of the notion into lowercase ( d iscourse) and uppercase ( D iscourse), to portray four levels of discourse analysis in organization studies: (a) a micro- d iscourse approach, which examines how language is used in specific localized practices; (b) a meso- d iscourse approach (later called text-focused studies), where analysts seek broader patterns of talk and text across related contexts and activities; (c) a grand D iscourse approach, where the aim is to understand how sets of discourses produce organizational reality, as in studies of organizational culture or corporate colonization of the lifeworld; and (d) a mega- D iscourse approach, where the goal is to uncover institutionalized or ideological frames like those associated with globalization, neoliberalism, enterprise, or managerialism. Taking these together, discourse can be understood as manifest in texts and linguistic tokens that are formed and deployed interactively, cognitively, or as background context in the conduct of organizing.

Recently, several authors have expressed misgivings about d/D distinctions. Some hold that the framework reinforces belief in the ontological reality of ‘levels’ of analysis, an assumption that not only reproduces disciplinary hierarchies, but which also violates the disruption of subject/object divisions central to the linguistic turn (Kuhn et al., 2017 ; Mumby, 2011 ). Others, like Phillips and Oswick ( 2012 ), argue for the need to develop multi-level discourse analysis, which would connect local practices with broader discursive formations—where analyses would move beyond simply naming forces that appear to be driving local texts. Criticisms such as these indicate that the d/D classification may have outlived its usefulness; nevertheless, we continue to draw on it here because it has characterized a good deal of scholarship on identity over the past two decades.

Communication

If the notion of discourse is difficult to pin down, communication is yet more slippery, both because of its disciplinary diversity and the ubiquity of the notion across fields. Seeking to reduce the complexity, Putnam and colleagues (Putnam et al., 1996 ; Putnam and Boys, 2006 ) present four dominant models of communication: (a) as media or channels for transmitting information; (b) messages that connect individuals into networks, (c) the jointly produced sequences of messages that comprise a practice, including how they unfold over time and space; and (d) the construction of meanings through negotiation and social interaction. Although the conceptions of communication in common parlance tend to emphasize the first two senses of the term, the lion’s share of thinking in the academic field of communication studies falls in the latter two categories.

Contemporary thinking, as portrayed by (c) and (d), starts by arguing strongly against renderings of communication as epiphenomenal, as a mere surface manifestation of deeper psychological or sociological forces. Communication is understood as a causal and generative process on its own, one that can be neither reduced to structural mechanisms nor seen as occurring only within organizational ‘containers’. Instead, communication is portrayed as ‘ the ongoing, dynamic, interactive process of manipulating symbols toward the creation, maintenance, destruction, and/or transformation of meanings, which are axial—not peripheral—to organizational existence and organizing phenomena’ (Ashcraft et al., 2009 : 22; emphasis in original). Such a definition aligns with ontological commitments that understand organizations and persons as ongoing processes of meaning creation.

Ashcraft et al. ( 2009 ) offered their definition as an ‘elastic consensus’ that, at a basic level, unites organizational communication scholars. They then pursued the conception further, engaging with theorizing that sees communication as exceeding the realm of the symbolic/ideational and, thus, to implicate bodies, sites, and artefacts (as categories of what is often taken to be the material domain). They reframed communication as ‘the ongoing, situated, and embodied process whereby human and non-human agencies interpenetrate ideation and materiality toward realities that are tangible and axial to organizational existence and organizing phenomena’ (Ashcraft et al., 2009 : 26). Though this is a far less elegant definition, it shows how current visions of communication seek to both transcend taken-for-granted ontological distinctions between the social and material and to embrace claims of constitutive force, a move manifest explicitly in the relational ontologies described below.

Distinguishing Discourse from Communication

Based on the preceding discussion, one might reasonably ask whether there are significant differences separating ‘discourse’ and ‘communication’. Indeed, many scholars render these notions equivalent and interchangeable. Jian et al. ( 2008 ), however, offer a useful distinction, construing discourse as one part of more encompassing communication processes. For them, discourse is a noun deployed in the action of the verb communication. Ashcraft’s ( 2007 : 11) study of occupational identity illustrates this stance well: it envisions discourse ‘as a (semi-)coherent system of representation that crafts a context for language use’, whereas communication is ‘the basic human activity of struggling over discursive possibilities amid the material circumstances of everyday life’. Locating a history of discursive gender coding associated with the occupational identity of commercial pilots, Ashcraft showed how communicative practices utilize that discursive coding to shape the meaning(s) of pilot work (including making particular logical and emotional responses more or less permissible), frame the captain as a mythic hero, and diminish belief in the constructed character of pilot identity. This approach, then, renders d/Discourse not as interaction, but as a set of resources available for appropriation in the meaning-making process of communication. In the next section, we explore how this vision of the discourse–communication relationship appears in key theories of identity.

Discourse and Communication in Theories of Identity

Social identity theory.

Since its inception in the 1970s and 1980s, SIT has become a dominant approach to conceptualizing identity and identification in organization studies (Ashforth and Mael, 1989 ; Brown, 2017 ). Beginning with Tajfel and Turner’s ( 1979 ) efforts to understand intergroup relations and conflict, SIT (and its conceptual extension, Self-Categorization Theory) has become an established way to explain how individuals incorporate group characteristics into their self-conceptions and cognitive processes.

Social identity is a representation of how people define themselves in relation to the various groups with which they are affiliated. Identity , in SIT, is ‘an individual’s knowledge that he [ sic ] belongs to certain social groups, together with some emotion and value significance to him of this group membership’ (Tajfel, 1972 : 292). As individuals connect themselves with particular groups, they incorporate assumed values, characteristics, and behaviours associated with that group into their own sense of self. This is a process of identification , and for SIT it explains both the construction of the person’s social identity and the shaping of the characteristics of a group. Identification begins with social categorizations, the grouping of persons by socially relevant attributes; people recognize similarities between one another in the groupings that result. These groups induce social comparisons, where the formation of differences across groups—as well as the rejection of particular groups—emerge. Importantly, SIT assumes that people are motivated to secure self-esteem through their group memberships. That drive leads them to depersonalize out-groups as they portray their in-group as superior; it also works to counteract group and organizational change because people seek stable sources of the self (Jenkins, 1996 ).

As Brown ( 2017 ) notes, however, there are competing conceptions of identification in SIT theorizing. Some restrict the notion to the cognitive domain, where an individual’s perception of belonging to a group, a sense of unity, is central (Ashforth and Mael, 1989 ; Pratt, 1998 ). Others see the connection with a collective as a foundation upon which the individual enacts the values, goals, knowledge, and prototypical member profile as his or her own (Oakes et al., 1994 ). These more behaviourally focused definitions portray strongly identified individuals as desiring ‘to choose the alternative that best promotes the perceived interests of that organization’ (Tompkins and Cheney, 1985 : 194). In these formulations, however, identification can be difficult to distinguish from notions like commitment and loyalty (Pratt, 1998 ), leading Scott et al. ( 1998 : 303) to extend SIT thinking beyond the cognitive realm. Scott et al. ( 1998 ) frame identification as communicative because it occurs in the interactions and behaviours that illustrate one’s attachment to a collective; identity, in turn, becomes ‘a set of rules and resources that function as an anchor for who we are’. Echoing the distinction between discourse and communication introduced above, what they call the ‘identification process’ is the ongoing enactment of the relationship between identity (as structure, or noun) and identification (as action, or verb).

Others have argued that regarding identification only as attachment over-simplifies actors’ relationships with groups and organizations. For instance, disidentification is a separation of the self from the perceived organizational identity, often based on a rejection of the organization’s values and a desire to maintain the aforementioned self-esteem by creating distance (Elsbach and Bhattacharya, 2001 ). Schizo-identification occurs when actors split their identities to affiliate with some elements of the collective while rejecting others (Gutierrez et al., 2010 ). Communication scholars have noted that people can have multiple targets of identification within and beyond a given organization, and, responding to concerns that SIT’s socio-cognitive focus produces a static version of the self (see Larson and Gill, 2017 ), show how those identifications shift in response to organizational changes (Kuhn and Nelson, 2002 ; Scott, 1997 ). A key question for SIT is whether identification should be understood as cognitive or communicative—whether it occurs within the person or in interactive processes. Discerning the ‘location’ of identification is important in that it guides attention to outcomes such as decision-making (Tompkins and Cheney, 1983 ), conflict (Glynn, 2000 ), and job performance (Carmeli et al., 2007 ).

One potent illustration of SIT’s claims can be seen in research on sports and fandom. Fandom is a clear-cut site of intergroup interaction, characterized by rivalries between spectator groups; between coaches, athletes, and management; between passionate fans, supporters, and those who are indifferent. It is no surprise that high levels of identification can produce ethically dubious actions like aggression and violence, often based on the categorization-based depersonalization that displays and creates in-group unity (Toder-Alon et al., 2019 ). At the same time, however, sports can create valuable bonds between fans, and this can even occur within other organizations, such as when employees’ process last weekend’s game at the proverbial water cooler (Swanson and Kent, 2015 ). Importantly, a heightened sense of social identification produces outcomes of value to a team’s management: spectators (fans) develop emotional ties to teams and athletes because those fans perceive a shared social identity, and ‘spectators high in team identification are more likely to attend games, pay more for tickets, spend more money on merchandise, and stay loyal to the team during periods of poor performance’ (Mehus and Kolstad, 2011 : 833). Fans seek discursive resources, such as those found in broadcasts and social media, to provide them information to support their attachments (as well as their oppositions); they also engage in communicative practices that augment their identifications, such as including conversations about the team, rituals (e.g. songs sung collectively at matches), conflicts with fans of other teams, and shared expressions of anger at officials (Giles and Stohl, 2017 ).

SIT provides a framework for examining the discourse centred on the creation and maintaining of identities within and between organizations through identification (see Table 9.1 ). Through the creation of a sense of identity generated by identifying with (or against) in- and out-groups, scholars can further examine the discursive and communicative influences on social identities (Benwell and Stokoe, 2006 ). There is, accordingly, a relatively strong sense of agency in SIT. By this we do not mean that individuals’ intentionality and choice-making capacity is either unconstrained or held ontologically prior to group influence, nor that actors are fully knowledgeable about the antecedents and consequences of their identifications, nor that strong attachments are controllable by the person. Instead, SIT portrays individuals as engaging with, responding to, and often rejecting the social categories that discursively appeal for their identification (Alvesson, 2010 ; Scott et al., 1998 ). Moreover, individuals evaluate the identifications that comprise their identities, often with an eye to reducing uncertainty in the self-concept and to creating distance between their own self-concept and the depersonalized prototype of group membership, especially if they seek positions of leadership (Hogg and Reid, 2006 ). In other words, they do not merely inhabit group stereotypes, but often practice what van Veelen et al. ( 2016 ) call self-anchoring : cognitively projecting a vision of the personal self onto the in-group. Across these, neither Discourse nor communication are understood as being the primary drivers of social identity and identification processes (though they are clearly important); rather, SIT’s social-psychological foundations position agents’ cognition as the primary device driving navigation through Discourses.

Narrative Theory

Narratives, ongoing processes of creating, using, and arranging symbols to generate accounts for events, organize our experiences (Somers, 1994 ). Narrative approaches to identity assume humans are predisposed, through consistent social conditioning, to organize thoughts and experiences in a storied form—we are homo narrans . Narratives of the self, as accounts of the self that we tell to others (as well as to ourselves), are both expressive and constitutive of identity. In his touchstone work, Giddens ( 1991 : 54) theorizes that ‘a person’s identity…is to be found…in the capacity to keep a particular narrative going ’. Narratives integrate a person’s reconstructed past, perceived present, and imagined future, often taking the form of what we could recognize as a story, with origins, episodes, and a trajectory. The creation and maintenance of these narratives are motivated, says Giddens, by a search for ontological security : a sense of consistency and orderliness, produced in part when actors develop relatively coherent narratives (i.e. those exhibiting continuity over time and across situations). The narratives we construct, in other words, aid the reconciliation of the multiplicity of identity alternatives. For instance, Bresnen et al. (2019) found that managers in healthcare contexts who developed an overarching narrative of the self as a hybrid actor were able to reconcile competing discourses of identity; this narrative was especially useful in organizations characterized by permeable boundaries between occupational groups.

For narrative thinkers, discourse and communication are central concerns. Discourse, first, has a dual manifestation. On the one hand, the life scripts, lifestyle choices, and genres of story plots from which individuals craft identity narratives can be understood as drawn from encompassing Discourses that make particular possibilities for narrative construction (im)possible (Ricoeur, 1991 ). On the other hand, those narratives that actors live out are also understood as discourses that can be externalized from any given situation and, separated this way, are eligible for authoring, reproduction, and alteration. Kuhn’s ( 2006 ) conception of discursive resources can be a useful illustration of this model of discourse. Drawing on Bourdieu, Kuhn sees discursive resources as concepts, tropes, expressions, or other linguistic devices, appropriated from situated practice, which actors employ in accounting for past and/or future activity. Discursive resources are thus a vehicle to understand how the shaping of identity narratives can occur, allowing analysts to locate intersections between micro- and macro-discourses.

Second, communication is a moment of ongoing narrative (re)negotiation: the process by which personal narratives are tested, where audiences confirm or repudiate their authenticity (McAdams et al., 2001 ). Another way of saying this is to note that communication is where identity work occurs. In contrast to acts of identification as conceived by SIT, the notion of identity work indexes ‘people being engaged in forming, repairing, maintaining, strengthening or revising the constructions that are productive of a sense of coherence and distinctiveness’ (Sveningsson and Alvesson, 2003 : 1165). Identity work, then, refers to the ways narratives get (re)formed and managed in social practice. By way of example, Ibarra and Barbulescu ( 2010 ) portray narratives as a way to understand employees’ identities during transitions like entries, exits, promotions, or job loss. Such changes require identity work on the part of the employee, and identifying the sorts of narratives actors deploy during career transitions can shed light on how they retain ontological security in situations that might otherwise foster anxiety.

If individuals create a sense of coherence between life experiences by organizing them as stories, it should be no surprise that they do the same as they engage in organizational practices to make their work lives meaningful. Wieland ( 2010 : 511), in a study of a Swedish branch of a large multinational corporation, found that identity work responded to two ideal selves —culturally situated and discursively constructed expectations for whom one should be—that simultaneously encouraged workers to devote themselves to organizational performance and to well-being. Though much of the identity literature emphasizes individuals’ drive for narrative coherence, Wieland argued that her participants lived with the inconsistent and contradictory demands of these ideal selves; they kept these discursive resources available so they could produce personal well-being in the face of work-oriented tensions.

A second illustration is Brown and Coupland’s ( 2015 ) analysis of how athletes on a professional rugby team used what they found to be threats to their (masculine) identities to create and recreate their self-narratives. Identity threats, ‘any discursively constituted thought or feeling that challenges one of an individual or group’s preferred identity narratives’ (2015: 1318), were discourses upon which rugby players drew in navigating their present and future within their sport. The players created narratives that, by dint of ‘focus, hard work, self-reliance, toughness and professionalism’ (2015: 1330), presented them as persevering, overcoming multiple threats in an epic quest to play top-tier rugby. Their narratives intersected with Discourses of masculinity, and also with the Discourses about the hazards of their work: the athletes had only a short window to achieve their dreams by displaying their talent. Brown and Coupland show that these players’ narratives, as well as the identity work players accomplished through them, were constructed, maintained, and reproduced through available discourses circulating in practices of organizing.

Narrative approaches have grown significantly in recent years because they provide a valuable way to apprehend lived experiences and, in particular, for tracing how individuals pursue identity work as a response to identity threats. Moreover, the discursive resources and communicative practices associated with formal organizations are excellent sites to examine the processes of narrative (re)construction; those sites encourage analysts to recognize the multiplicity of forces that enable and constrain individuals’ agency in developing coherent and compelling narratives.

Critical and Poststructural Theory

One of the key problems of the preceding schools of thought is that their version of the social world tends to be relatively restricted. They evince limited interest in addressing relations of power embedded in (macro-level) Discursive factors, as well as the relationships between d/Discourse and everyday communication (du Gay, 1996 ). Several theorists, however, have presented models for analysing the ‘Uppercase D’ discourses such as globalization, neoliberalism, enterprise, and managerialism; in this section, we combine these under the label ‘critical and poststructural’ theorizing. There are several significant differences between critical and poststructural approaches, but they are united in asking questions about how persons become enrolled in the exercise of social and organizational power.

Louis Althusser ( 1971 ) foregrounded ideology as a discursive force that operates through institutions, producing particular sorts of subjects who become willing contributors to the reproduction of capitalism. Stuart Hall ( 1996 : 6) summarizes this stance, highlighting power as productive of the person: ‘“Identity” refers to the meeting point, the point of suture, between on the one hand the discourses which attempt to “interpellate”, speak to us or hail us into place as the social subjects of particular discourses, and on the other hand, the processes which produce subjectivities, which construct us as subjects which can be “spoken”.’ In Hall’s thinking, identities are points of temporary attachment to the subject positions which discursive practices construct for us. For Althusser and Hall, then, it is impossible to exist outside ideology, and a capitalist ideology positions us as free subjects who knowingly accept our subjection.

As Hall noted, identities are outcomes of attachment to subject positions; as a result, critical and poststructural approaches tend to favour the term subjectivity over identity to signal that the self is simultaneously subject to discourses of personhood and, simultaneously, is positioned as the subject of the experiences in which it is implicated. The term ‘identity’ fails to capture the sense of social and cultural entanglement that ‘subject’ implies: the way our immediate daily life is always already caught up in complex political and social concerns found in Discourses (Mansfield, 2000 ).

The key inheritor of the Althusserian position was his former student, Michel Foucault. Foucault ( 1970 , 1982 ) theorized that historically specific discursive formations created subjectivity. Once the person is constructed as the primary source of experience and responsibility, subjects can be classified and regulated—governed—within particular regimes of knowledge and power. Yet power, for Foucault, does not arise from a centre of the discursive formation, as a sovereign rules over subjects; it is ‘capillary’ in the sense of being distributed across the innumerable micro-practices through which all actors come to constitute one another’s (and their own) subjectivities. Foucault’s argument, then, is not that a monolithic mega-Discourse determines subjectivity, but that communication practices, informed by specific discursive formations, discipline subjects’ bodies and minds (Deetz, 1998 ).

A related movement of scholars interested in the production of subjects through linguistic systems of knowledge and power is captured under the label poststructuralism . Though there is diversity across poststructuralists, this movement began as a reaction to structuralism’s assertion that Discourses and the binary oppositions coded into them determine social action. Poststructuralists regard subjects as positioned not by a single dominant discursive formation, but by many simultaneously. Consequently, a single, independent, and coherent self becomes impossible when acknowledging the conflicting pulls of contrasting Discursively-shaped subject positions (e.g. gender, occupation, age, class). Poststructuralists thus portray subjectivity as a process, one that sees both discourse and the experience of communication as fragmented, multifaceted, and polysemic (du Gay, 2007 ). A poststructural stance on language and experience implies an ever-present excess of meanings, characterized by antagonisms and ruptures that can open up either a generative ‘space of action’ (Holmer Nadesan, 1996 ) or, depending on the connections across available discursive resources, constrain possibilities for self-formation (Costas and Fleming, 2009 ; Kuhn, 2009 ). Normatively, poststructuralists thus urge subjects to embrace (rather than suppress) fluidity and multiplicity in their experience of working and organizing (Holmer Nadesan and Trethewey, 2000 ).

Critical and poststructuralist thinking thus shares an interest in showing how subjectivities are created by a variety of discursive forces and involvement in an array of communicative practices. One important upshot of this position is a recognition that if d/Discourse and communication powerfully shape experience, subjectivity cannot be controlled by the person. Yet our social worlds foster belief in persons’ skills and careers as achievements of autonomous, self-directed selves. The disconnect between the subjectifying influence of discourse and communication on the one hand, and a belief in the self as strongly ‘in control’ on the other, exist in dialectical fashion, creating a sense of insecurity or anxiety (e.g. Collinson, 2003). Accordingly, as individuals are subject to disciplinary regimes, they simultaneously ‘engage with, resist, accommodate, reproduce, and transform the interpretive possibilities and meaning systems that constitute daily organizational life’ (Mumby, 2005 : 22).

One line of critical/poststructural scholarship on subjectivity analyses the power of branding. Certainly, organizations have branded products for decades, but analysts increasingly recognize that the logic of branding extends to individuals as well as firms (Vásquez et al., 2013 ). Late capitalism is fully saturated by branding, making it a part of our Discursive worlds and everyday communicative practices (Arvidsson and Peiterson, 2013 ; Mumby, 2016 ). Critical and poststructural scholarship shows how subjectivities are the (un)intended targets of firms’ branding activity. For instance, Land and Taylor’s ( 2010 ) study of a clothing company that built an image of itself as small merchant of ‘activewear’ noted that the company’s externally focused messages capitalized on the lives of its workers. Its marketing materials included humorous stories about employees skipping work to kayak and t-shirt slogans developed to reflect workers’ ‘authenticity’ (‘tattoos have to be bought; scars have to be earned’). Employees’ lives outside of work were claimed in the organization’s interest; those employees, however, saw this not as an unjustified expropriation of their private selves, but as a desirable demonstration of the brand. Subjectivity was, in other words, intimately branded.

Critical/poststructural analyses of subjectivity formation extend beyond the traditional workplace to the ‘social factory’, where the production of the brand is an accomplishment of consumers, users, and observers, as well as employees (Gill and Pratt 2008 ). Brand management, in other words, requires sophisticated conceptions of discourse and communication as sites of meaning generation. Here, branding is not simply about the muscular power of a Discourse over (or upon) workers, but is about the array of communicative practices that capitalize on the very subjectivities those Discourses generate (Banet-Weiser, 2012 ). These examples show that identities are sites where varied interests battle to inscribe individuals in ways that serve entrenched interests (see Table 9.1 ), but critical/poststructural scholars insist that individuals retain the agency to resist efforts at subjectification, to exploit Discursive overdetermination, and engage in identity work. Discourses, from this stance, are tools and contextual configurations that guide the unfolding practices of communication, making identity (or subjectivity) itself a nexus at which power-oriented struggles over meanings intersect.

Relational Ontologies

A recent entry in the discourse and communication literature alters dramatically the conception of personal identity (but, because this perspective is still in its intellectual infancy, empirical work is relatively meagre). Building on the aforementioned linguistic turn, two contemporary movements—the practice (Schatzki et al., 2001 ) and ontological turns (Coole and Frost, 2010 )—have created interest in reframing organizational phenomena as ongoing socio-material accomplishments. Taken together, these movements comprise relational ontologies 2 (or relationality , along with its terminological cousin, new materialisms ). As overviews that detail their tenets are available elsewhere (e.g. Fox and Alldred, 2017 ; Kuhn et al., 2017 ; Orlikowski and Scott, 2008 ), this section only skims the surface.

An abstraction from several bodies of thought, including actor-network theory, affect theory, performativity, agential realism, and socio-materiality, relational ontologies argue that the lessons of the linguistic turn have too often been distorted, taken to mean that the material elements of the social and organizational worlds are relevant only to the extent that actors speak them into existence. In response, relationality begins by reframing the ‘things’ of our analyses as always multiple and in process, such that the elements we conceptualize as coherent entities with relatively clear boundaries— substances —are understood as nothing more (nor less) than the relations that produce them (Emirbayer, 1997 ). In other words, the a priori separation of subject and object is no longer presumed; if a separation exists, it must be performed into existence. Accordingly, the unit of analysis shifts from substances (e.g. individuals, identifications, or narratives) to practices . 3 The important question for analysts is to ascertain what forces, which extend agency beyond merely human capacities (Bennett, 2010 ), come to matter —what makes a difference, and how—in the conduct of a given practice.

Relationality’s conception of agency thus differs markedly from the preceding perspectives. Agency is no longer restricted to humans—but, to correct a common misconception, it is likewise not ‘granted’ to non-human things either. Instead, agency is hybrid and distributed. If ‘things’ are relational accomplishments, so is agency: humans never act apart from a wealth of other elements, and our intentions, desires, and passions depend on sites, technologies, representations, hormones, and the like to become significant (i.e. to matter ).

What, then, does a relational ontology have to say about identity? Given the decentring associated with the rejection of individuals as units of analysis and the hybridization of agency, the understanding of identity shifts in three ways. First, relationality situates identity squarely within practice. Regarding identity as manifest in practices has been key to several literatures in organization studies but, under relationality, there can no longer be an assumption that persons and their identities are independent elements that participate in organizing. The image is not one of several pre-existing components coming together to produce a practice; instead, the practice is that which generates the participants through what Barad ( 2007 ) calls agential cuts . Analysts can only say identity is relevant in a given practice when it is made to matter in practice—when that practice centres identity as a concern. Analysts must therefore defer their conceptualization of identity until (and if) the notion emerges as a figure. An example of this is in Paring et al.’s ( 2017 ) ethnography of a project management team. Rather than assuming that (human) members possessed identities, they examined how the identity of ‘internal consultant’ was the outcome of management’s introduction of a technology into ongoing practices, when it became inserted into work routines in a way that ‘afford[ed] the performativity of the “internal consultant” identity, that is, the constitution of this social identity through the entwinement of discourses and public and repetitive sets of actions and behaviours’ (2017: 845). Paring et al.’s study illustrates the ways relationality studies make identity a question rather than the font of action.

Second, a relational ontology recognizes that discourse, human capacities, and non-human elements are always simultaneously enacted and enacting forces. But their productivity, as indicated above, is always rendered as a hybrid, an agglomeration of agencies (forces) that hang together as a result of the practice in question (Cooren, 2018 ). For instance, Højgaard and Søndergaard’s ( 2011 : 350) discussion of peer bullying in schools demonstrated both enacted and enacting forces by showing how the practice brought together several forms of agency:

Peer bullying enacts subjects, gendered ethnicities, as well as school walls and management technologies in particular ways.…subjectivities and their components as well as materialities and their components may enact and be enacted in many different, moving, and shifting ways.

Acknowledging the presence of multiple interrelated forces, a key task in research is to investigate how the configuration enacts identity as a key contributor to a given practice.

Third, for analysts to grasp the modes by which identities matter in practice, looking to what individuals believe and how they report their intentions is of limited utility. Instead, as in literature on symbolic legacies (Hunter, 2008 ), identities are carried forward through time and space by the myriad components of a practice (i.e. not simply individuals). For example, writing about young men’s sexual identities, Fox and Alldred ( 2017 : 108) draw attention to the many forces amassed in an assemblage : ‘body and sexuality capacities are specified by myriad affects in the sexuality-assemblage deriving variously from physiology, from social interactions with peers or sexual partners, with institutions such as schools or clubs, and by things such as cars, condoms, and alcohol’. Identity is incorporated in, and transported by, multiple elements of that assemblage—not merely by an individual’s cognitions or narratives.

Returning to our overriding interest in discourse and communication, relationality thus positions identity as a force participating in (organizing) practices. Communication is a name for the practice that brings the assemblage of forces together; it is the linking and connecting accomplished in meaning-making activity that accomplishes a given practice. Discourse, in turn, is one among many elements that might engage in signification (and thus become part of hybrid agency) by establishing frames for, or representations of, a given practice, as in Højgaard and Søndergaard’s ( 2011 ) aforementioned consideration of how Discourses of gender and ethnicity were bound up with several other elements in the conduct of peer bullying (see Table 9.1 ). As a relatively new participant in efforts to theorize identity, relationality cuts against the grain of the preceding schools of thought, but enables us to ask novel questions about the import of identity in organizing.

Conclusions

Following the trail blazed by the pragmatists, the linguistic turn (along with the associated practice and ontological turns) led scholars in several fields to understand discourse and communication as fundamental to organizing. These intellectual movements reframed identities as inherently made by the social practices in which they are implicated. In this chapter, we overviewed four approaches to understanding the relationships between discourse, communication, and identity that build on that theme: SIT, narrative, critical/poststructuralist, and relationality. Across these, we showed that discourse and communication are malleable categories that permit multiple conceptualizations and underwrite models of identity that move in very different directions. This chapter is an attempt to capture this diversity in foundations and trajectories.

Across the four broad perspectives, the contribution of discourse and communication scholarship is constitutive rather than representational . By this we mean that scholars increasingly understand that personal identities do not simply use discourse and communication to express (i.e. represent) pre-existing interiorities; instead, discourse and communication are axial to the very existence, persistence, and metamorphosis of identities.

Recognition of discourse and communication’s centrality in the production of identities produces an assortment of research questions that have driven the fruitful lines of inquiry reviewed above. These questions concern how groups foster identifications among members, how people manage the multiple identifications that comprise their identities, how individuals respond to threats to their self-narratives, how (managerial) efforts to control identities engender resistance, and how identities are the contingent and mutable outcomes of a practice’s assemblage of interconnected elements. Tracing theories of identity and organizing, as we have done in this chapter, also suggests future developments: because discourse and communication are persistent concerns of philosophers, social theorists, and social scientists, and because discourse and communication are responsive to constant social and technological changes, theories are unrelentingly malleable. It should be no surprise, then, that visions of identity and subjectivity will be responsively mutable as well.

Self, in this early philosophical thought, was a conception of the person as a subject of consciousness (Taylor, 1989 ). This chapter, however, is interested in (personal) identity, an answer to the ‘who am I’ question, which involves qualities and characteristics that an individual understands as defining the person’s position in, and trajectory through, the social world.

We use the plural ontologies here to recognize the multiplicity of perspectives that fall under this broad banner; we also highlight the ontological turn involved here because the conception of relationality we develop departs strongly from routine uses of ‘relational’ in organization studies, where attention to relationships between persons is said to be key to making the phenomenon of interest operate well, as is seen in research on relational leadership.

One upshot of this is that what we take to be discursive and material elements are fully indivisible until they are made to appear detached in and through specific practices. In relationality, the notion of distinct symbolic and material domains shrivels, even if they are said to be ‘braided’ or ‘intertwined’, because both metaphors retain the notion that these components are distinct. Instead, relationality theorists see the discursive and material as two sides of the same coin.

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How to Write a Discursive Essay: Awesome Guide and Template

Interesting fact: Did you know that the term "discursive" is derived from the Latin word "discursus," which means to run about or to traverse? This reflects the nature of a discursive essay, as it involves exploring various perspectives, moving through different points of view, and presenting a comprehensive discussion on a given topic.

In this article, you will find out about a discursive essay definition, learn the difference between a discourse and an argumentative essay, gain practical how-to tips, and check out a discursive essay example.  

What Is a Discursive Essay

A discursive essay definition is a type of formal writing that presents a balanced analysis of a particular topic. Unlike an argumentative essay, which takes a firm stance on a single perspective and seeks to persuade the reader to adopt that viewpoint, a discursive essay explores multiple sides of an issue. 

The goal of a discursive essay is to provide a comprehensive overview of the subject, presenting different arguments, counterarguments, and perspectives in a structured and organized manner.

This type of essay encourages critical thinking and reasoned discourse. It typically includes an introduction that outlines the topic and sets the stage for the discussion, followed by a series of body paragraphs that delve into various aspects of the issue. The essay may also address counterarguments and opposing viewpoints. 

Finally, a discursive essay concludes by summarizing the key points and often leaves room for the reader to form their own informed opinion on the matter. This form of writing is commonly assigned in academic settings, allowing students to demonstrate their ability to analyze complex topics and present a well-reasoned exploration of diverse viewpoints. In case you find this type of composition too difficult, just say, ‘ write my paper ,’ and professional writers will take care of it. 

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Difference Between a Discursive Essay and an Argumentative

The main difference between discursive essays and argumentative lies in their overall purpose and approach to presenting information.

• Discursive: The primary purpose of a discursive essay is to explore and discuss various perspectives on a given topic. How to write a discursive essay is about providing a comprehensive overview of the subject matter by presenting different arguments, opinions, and viewpoints without necessarily advocating for a specific stance.
• Argumentative: In contrast, an argumentative essay is designed to persuade the reader to adopt a particular viewpoint or take a specific action. It presents a clear and focused argument in favor of the writer's position, often addressing and refuting opposing views.

Tone and Language:

• Discursive: The tone of a discursive essay is generally more balanced and objective. It allows for a more open exploration of ideas, and the language used is often neutral and formal.
• Argumentative: An argumentative essay tends to have a more assertive tone. The language is focused on presenting a compelling case from the writer's perspective, and there may be a sense of conviction in the presentation of evidence and reasoning.
• Discursive Essay: A discursive essay typically follows a more flexible structure. It may present multiple points of view in separate sections, allowing for a free-flowing exploration of the topic.
• Argumentative Essay: When learning how to write an argumentative essay, students usually follow a more rigid structure, with a clear introduction, thesis statement, body paragraphs that present evidence and arguments, and a conclusion that reinforces the writer's stance.

Conclusion:

• Discursive Essay: The conclusion of a discursive essay often summarizes the main points discussed and may leave room for the reader to form their own opinion on the matter.
• Argumentative Essay: The conclusion of an argumentative essay reinforces the writer's position and may include a call to action or a clear statement of the desired outcome.

While both types of essays involve critical thinking and analysis, the key distinction lies in their ultimate goals and how they approach the presentation of information. 

Types of Discursive Essay

Before writing a discursive essay, keep in mind that they can be categorized into different types based on their specific purposes and structures. Here are some common types of discursive essays:

Opinion Essays:

• Purpose: Expressing and supporting personal opinions on a given topic.
• Structure: The essay presents the writer's viewpoint and provides supporting evidence, examples, and arguments. It may also address counterarguments to strengthen the overall discussion.

Problem-Solution Essays:

• Purpose: Identifying a specific problem and proposing effective solutions.
• Structure: The essay introduces the problem, discusses its causes and effects, and presents possible solutions. It often concludes with a recommendation or call to action.

Compare and Contrast Essays:

• Purpose: Analyzing similarities and differences between two or more perspectives, ideas, or approaches.
• Structure: The essay outlines the key points of each perspective, highlighting similarities and differences. A balanced analysis is provided to give the reader a comprehensive understanding.

Cause and Effect Essays:

• Purpose: Exploring the causes and effects of a particular phenomenon or issue.
• Structure: The essay identifies the primary causes and examines their effects or vice versa. It may delve into the chain of events and their implications.

Argumentative Essays:

• Purpose: Presenting a strong argument in favor of a specific viewpoint.
• Structure: The essay establishes a clear thesis statement, provides evidence and reasoning to support the argument, and addresses opposing views. It aims to persuade the reader to adopt the writer's perspective.

Pro-Con Essays:

• Purpose: Evaluating the pros and cons of a given issue.
• Structure: The essay presents the positive aspects (pros) and negative aspects (cons) of the topic. It aims to provide a balanced assessment and may conclude with a recommendation or a summary of the most compelling points.

Exploratory Essays:

• Purpose: Investigating and discussing a topic without necessarily advocating for a specific position.
• Structure: The essay explores various aspects of the topic, presenting different perspectives and allowing the reader to form their own conclusions. It often reflects a process of inquiry and discovery.

These types of discursive essays offer different approaches to presenting information, and the choice of type depends on the specific goals of the essay and the preferences of the writer.

How to Write a Discursive Essay

Unlike other forms of essay writing, a discursive essay demands a unique set of skills, inviting writers to navigate through diverse perspectives, present contrasting viewpoints, and weave a tapestry of balanced arguments. 

You can order custom essay right now to save time to get ready to delve into the art of crafting a compelling discursive essay, unraveling the intricacies of structure, language, and critical analysis. Whether you're a seasoned essayist or a novice in the realm of formal writing, this exploration promises to equip you with the tools needed to articulate your thoughts effectively and engage your audience in thoughtful discourse. 

Discursive Essay Format

The format of a discursive essay plays a crucial role in ensuring a clear, well-organized, and persuasive presentation of multiple perspectives on a given topic. Here is a typical discursive essay structure:

1. Introduction:

• Hook: Begin with a captivating hook or attention-grabbing statement to engage the reader's interest.
• Contextualization: Provide a brief overview of the topic and its relevance, setting the stage for the discussion.
• Thesis Statement: Clearly state the main argument or the purpose of the essay. In a discursive essay, the thesis often reflects the idea that the essay will explore multiple viewpoints without necessarily taking a firm stance.

2. Body Paragraphs:

• Topic Sentences: Start each body paragraph with a clear topic sentence that introduces the main point or argument.
• Presentation of Arguments: Devote individual paragraphs to different aspects of the topic, presenting various arguments, perspectives, or evidence. Ensure a logical flow between paragraphs.
• Address Counterarguments: Acknowledge and address opposing viewpoints to strengthen the overall credibility of your essay.
• Supporting Evidence: Provide examples, statistics, quotations, or other forms of evidence to bolster each argument.

3. Transitions:

• Logical Transitions: Use transitional phrases and words to ensure a smooth and logical flow between paragraphs and ideas. This helps readers follow your line of reasoning.

4. Conclusion:

• Restate Thesis: Summarize the main argument or purpose of the essay without introducing new information.
• Brief Recap: Provide a concise recap of the key points discussed in the body paragraphs.
• Closing Thoughts: Offer some closing thoughts or reflections on the significance of the topic. You may also leave room for the reader to consider their own stance.

5. Language and Style:

• Formal Tone: Maintain a formal and objective tone throughout the essay.
• Clarity and Coherence: Ensure that your ideas are presented clearly and that there is coherence in your argumentation.
• Varied Sentence Structure: Use a variety of sentence structures to enhance readability and engagement.

6. References (if applicable):

• Citations: If you use external sources, cite them appropriately according to the citation style required (e.g., APA, MLA).

Remember, flexibility exists within this format, and the specifics may vary based on the assignment requirements or personal writing preferences. Tailor the structure to suit the demands of your discourse and the expectations of your audience.

Introduction

A discursive essay introduction serves as the gateway to a thought-provoking exploration of diverse perspectives on a given topic. Here's how to structure an effective discursive essay introduction:

• Begin with a compelling hook that captures the reader's attention. This could be a striking statistic, a thought-provoking quote, a relevant anecdote, or a rhetorical question. 
• Offer a brief context or background information about the topic. This helps orient the reader and sets the stage for the discussion to follow. 
• Clearly state the purpose of the essay. This often involves indicating that the essay will explore various perspectives on the topic without necessarily advocating for a specific stance. 
• Provide a brief overview of the different aspects or arguments that will be explored in the essay. 
• Conclude the introduction with a clear and concise thesis statement. 

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Writing a discursive essay involves crafting the body of your discursive essay. The number of paragraphs in the body should correspond to the arguments presented, with an additional paragraph dedicated to the opposing viewpoint if you choose to disclose both sides of the argument. If you opt for this approach, alternate the order of the body paragraphs—supporting arguments followed by counterarguments.

Each body paragraph in your discursive essay should focus on a distinct idea. Begin the paragraph with the main idea, provide a concise summary of the argument, and incorporate supporting evidence from reputable sources.

In the concluding paragraph of the body, present potential opposing arguments and counter them. Approach this section as if engaging in a debate, strategically dismantling opposing viewpoints.

While composing the body of a discursive essay, maintain a cohesive narrative. Although individual paragraphs address different arguments, refrain from titling each paragraph—aim for a seamless flow throughout the essay. Express your personal opinions exclusively in the conclusion.

Key guidelines for writing the body of a discursive essay:

• Remain Unbiased: Prioritize objectivity. Evaluate all facets of the issue, leaving personal sentiments aside.
• Build Your Argumentation: If you have multiple arguments supporting your viewpoint, present them in separate, well-structured paragraphs. Provide supporting evidence to enhance clarity and credibility.
• Use an Alternate Writing Style: Present opposing viewpoints in an alternating manner. This means that if the first paragraph supports the main argument, the second should present an opposing perspective. This method enhances clarity and research depth and ensures neutrality.
• Include Topic Sentences and Evidence: Commence each paragraph with a topic sentence summarizing the argument. This aids reader comprehension. Substantiate your claims with evidence, reinforcing the credibility of your discourse.

By adhering to these principles, you can construct a coherent and well-supported body for your discursive essay.

Conclusion 

Writing an effective conclusion is crucial to leaving a lasting impression on your reader. Here are some tips to guide you in crafting a compelling and impactful conclusion:

• Begin your conclusion by summarizing the key points discussed in the body of the essay. 
• Remind the reader of your thesis statement, emphasizing the primary purpose of your discursive essay. 
• Address the broader significance or implications of the topic. 
• Explain why the issue is relevant and underscore the importance of considering multiple perspectives in understanding its complexity.
• Reiterate the balanced nature of your essay. Emphasize that you have explored various viewpoints and arguments without necessarily taking a firm stance.
• Reinforce the idea that your goal was to present a comprehensive analysis.
• If applicable, suggest possible recommendations or solutions based on the insights gained from the essay.
• Encourage the reader to reflect on the topic independently. 
• Pose open-ended questions or invite them to consider the implications of the arguments presented. 
• Resist the temptation to introduce new information or arguments in the conclusion.
• Keep the tone of your conclusion professional and thoughtful. 
• Conclude your essay with a strong, memorable closing statement.
• Carefully review your conclusion to ensure clarity and coherence. Edit for grammar, punctuation, and overall writing quality to present a polished final product.

By incorporating these tips into your discursive essay conclusion, you can effectively summarize your arguments, leave a lasting impression, and prompt thoughtful reflection from your readers. Consider using our term paper writing service if you have to deal with a larger assignment that requires more time and effort.

Yays and Nays of Writing Discourse Essays

In learning how to write a discursive essay, certain do's and don'ts serve as guiding principles throughout the writing process. By adhering to these guidelines, writers can navigate the complexities of presenting arguments, counterarguments, and nuanced analyses, ensuring the essay resonates with clarity and persuasiveness.

• Conduct thorough research on the topic to ensure a well-informed discussion.
• Present multiple perspectives on the issue, exploring various arguments and viewpoints.
• Maintain a balanced and neutral tone. Present arguments objectively without expressing personal bias.
• Structure your essay logically with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. Use paragraphs to organize your ideas effectively.
• Topic Sentences:
• Include clear topic sentences at the beginning of each paragraph to guide the reader through your arguments.
• Support your arguments with credible evidence from reputable sources to enhance the credibility of your essay.
• Use transitional words and phrases to ensure a smooth flow between paragraphs and ideas.
• Engage in critical analysis. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different arguments and viewpoints.
• Recap key points in the conclusion, summarizing the main arguments and perspectives discussed in the essay.
• Carefully proofread your essay to correct any grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors.
• Don't express personal opinions in the body of the essay. Save personal commentary for the conclusion.
• Don't introduce new information or arguments in the conclusion. This section should summarize and reflect on existing content.
• Don't use overly emotional or subjective language. Maintain a professional and objective tone throughout.
• Don't rely on personal opinions without sufficient research. Ensure that your arguments are supported by credible evidence.
• Don't have an ambiguous or unclear thesis statement. Clearly state the purpose of your essay in the introduction.
• Don't ignore counterarguments. Acknowledge and address opposing viewpoints to strengthen your overall argument.
• Don't use overly complex language if it doesn't add to the clarity of your arguments. Strive for clarity and simplicity in your writing.
• Don't present ideas in a disorganized manner. Ensure that there is a logical flow between paragraphs and ideas.
• Don't excessively repeat the same points. Present a variety of arguments and perspectives to keep the essay engaging.
• Don't ignore the guidelines provided for the essay assignment. Follow any specific instructions or requirements given by your instructor or institution.

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Discursive Essay Examples

Discursive essay topics.

Writing a discursive essay on a compelling topic holds immense importance as it allows individuals to engage in a nuanced exploration of diverse perspectives. A well-chosen subject encourages critical thinking and deepens one's understanding of complex issues, fostering intellectual growth. 

The process of exploring a good topic enhances research skills as writers delve into varied viewpoints and gather evidence to support their arguments. Moreover, such essays contribute to the broader academic discourse, encouraging readers to contemplate different facets of a subject and form informed opinions.

• The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Employment.
• Should Social Media Platforms Regulate Content for Misinformation?
• Exploring the Ethics of Cloning in Contemporary Science.
• Universal Basic Income: A Solution for Economic Inequality?
• The Role of Technology in Shaping Modern Education.
• Nuclear Energy: Sustainable Solution or Environmental Risk?
• The Effects of Video Games on Adolescent Behavior.
• Cybersecurity Threats in the Digital Age: Balancing Privacy and Security.
• Debunking Common Myths Surrounding Climate Change.
• The Pros and Cons of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).
• Online Education vs. Traditional Classroom Learning.
• The Impact of Social Media Influencers on Consumer Behavior.
• The Ethics of Animal Testing in Medical Research.
• Universal Healthcare: Addressing Gaps in Healthcare Systems.
• The Role of Government in Regulating Cryptocurrencies.
• The Influence of Advertising on Body Image and Self-Esteem.
• Renewable Energy Sources: A Viable Alternative to Fossil Fuels?
• The Implications of Space Exploration on Earth's Resources.
• Is Censorship Justified in the Arts and Entertainment Industry?
• Examining the Impact of Globalization on Cultural Identity.
• The Morality of Capital Punishment in the 21st Century.
• Should Genetic Engineering be Used for Human Enhancement?
• Social Media and Its Influence on Political Discourse.
• Balancing Environmental Conservation with Economic Development.
• The Role of Gender in the Workplace: Achieving Equality.
• Exploring the Impact of Fast Fashion on the Environment.
• The Benefits and Risks of Autonomous Vehicles.
• The Influence of Media on Perceptions of Beauty.
• Legalization of Marijuana: Addressing Medical and Social Implications.
• The Impact of Antibiotic Resistance on Global Health.
• The Pros and Cons of a Cashless Society.
• Exploring the Relationship Between Technology and Mental Health.
• The Role of Government Surveillance in Ensuring National Security.
• Addressing the Digital Divide: Ensuring Access to Technology for All.
• The Impact of Social Media on Political Activism.
• The Ethics of Animal Rights and Welfare.
• Nuclear Disarmament: Necessity or Utopian Ideal?
• The Effects of Income Inequality on Societal Well-being.
• The Role of Education in Combating Systemic Racism.
• The Influence of Pop Culture on Society's Values and Norms.
• Artificial Intelligence and Its Impact on Creative Industries.
• The Pros and Cons of Mandatory Vaccination Policies.
• The Role of Women in Leadership Positions: Breaking the Glass Ceiling.
• Internet Privacy: Balancing Personal Security and Data Collection.
• The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health.
• The Morality of Animal Agriculture and Factory Farming.
• The Rise of Online Learning Platforms: Transforming Education.
• Addressing the Digital Gender Gap in STEM Fields.
• The Impact of Global Tourism on Local Cultures and Environments.
• Exploring the Implications of 3D Printing Technology in Various Industries.

By the way, we have another great collection of narrative essay topics to get your creative juices flowing.

Wrapping Up

Throughout this guide, you have acquired valuable insights into the art of crafting compelling arguments and presenting diverse perspectives. By delving into the nuances of topic selection, structuring, and incorporating evidence, you could hone your critical thinking skills and sharpen your ability to engage in informed discourse. 

This guide serves as a roadmap, offering not just a set of rules but a toolkit to empower students in their academic journey. As you embark on future writing endeavors, armed with the knowledge gained here, you can confidently navigate the challenges of constructing well-reasoned, balanced discursive essays that contribute meaningfully to academic discourse and foster a deeper understanding of complex issues. If you want to continue your academic learning journey right now, we suggest that you read about the IEEE format next.

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DISCURSIVE IDENTITY AND PROBLEM OF SOCIAL IDENTIFICATION

The article examines the phenomenon of discursive identity, its nature and sources of the formation. Attributive characteristics of the discursive identity such as plasticity and processuality, interactive nature and it's embedment into the broad cultural context, fragmentation, and decentralization of the subject are studied. Also, the interrelations between subject's autonomy and discursive identity are considered.

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Olga Grynko

The relevance of the problem of identity and identification is determined by the changes in sociocultural reality in the post-modern societies of the second half of the 20 century, the crisis in the existential approach to personality studies, enhanced integrative trends in scientific thinking, its humanitarianization and anthropocentric nature. This research paper looks at the actualization of the studies on identity and identification, describes the history and scope of the identification studies, substantiates the differentiation between the terms of individual/collective identity and identification. The differentiation of the investigated terms is confined to the fact that identification serves as a foundation for constructing identity, so they correlate as a mechanism, process, and result of such mechanism’s operation in an individual self-conscious. Identification is seen as a cognitive-and-emotional mechanism of identity construction, due to which the subject constructs his o...

Migracijske I Etnicke Teme

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When studying the complex issue of identity, it is necessary to decompose it into individual parts or contexts that reveal partial identities. Since they are connected to each other, a particular change in a certain identity may induce further changes in others, or even all of them. Together they create a configuration of complex Identity that is unique, original and variable in time and space. Identity is a system that can be managed. Human being can be converted into an instrument of satisfying needs, a consumer of products. People are open to what is considered and labelled as legitimate in the social world. The social world is primary; it is a cultural text, in which the processes of defining and selfdefining are ongoing. It is therefore essential to view a person or society as a holder of multiple identities.

Jelena Petrucijova

The article is focused on the issue of human being and human identity (both collective and individual one). Two methodilogical approaches – essential and existential – are considered to be so called traditional approaches of the philosophical antropology. An interpretative/narrative approach are the current state in the analysing of the identity issue. The mentioned approaches are used in the special sciences: social and cultural anthropology, psychology, etc., as well. The author emphasizes a cultural dimension of identity reflecting the human situation in globalized, multicultural world (e.g. the conceptions of multiple identity, sliced identity, split identity).

fatma altinbas

The issue that the identities are acquired congenitally or created in the collective past has been opened to debate in the last century. The challenge made to the fact that the identities have fixed " selves " , has argued that the identity is not a given structure. According to this view, identity is a constructed structure and this construction process is always in the construction phase. No identity can ever be completed. There is an endless transformation. The past, which was given reference by the identity, has a variable structure just like the identity itself. The accumulation of what has happened in the past, changes in accordance with the viewpoints of both those who narrate the past and those who try to conceive the past. Moreover, in the reconstruction of the identity and the past, man is not the sole authority. People are constantly open to the external influences during the construction of their identities. Thus, the identity is constructed in an individual and collective way. The emphasis in this study is on the fact that the identity is constructed with the effects created by the future expectations rather than the effects from the past. Since, both the identity and the past can be reconstructed today, the identity has no self and the identity is a variable. Future expectations decide on how the identity shall be reconstructed as much as the past. The identity is in the roots as well as towards the routes. The uncertainty of the identity is caused by the fact that it carries in itself the uncertainty of the future. Due to this reason, in identity policies and studies future plans of the people or the groups forming the identity should be examined as much as the past.

Atlantis: Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies

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For the emergence of a community or a nation, it has always been necessary to bring local identities and different ethnic groups around one common cultural center. However, the process of integrating individuals into a dominant ethnicity or cultural centercertainly causes several social, cultural and political problems. During theprogress of communication systems from the newspapers to the television and the social media, the issue has gained momentum with the expression of reactions to the ethnical cultures which were formed centrally. It is interestingthat social studies highlights identity studies which focuses on diverse issues ranging from the question of how administrative authoritiescan manage counterweights other than the center to the question of what is the legitimacy of giving privileges to the members of minority groups. This situation arises as a natural result of social, cultural and political centralization, and from the increasing concern in social sciences about gathering data as it needs to give an immediate answer to the question of how to restructure the social positions and the roles of minority groups which realize that they are different from the center. This study focuses on the historical and social origins of the growing popularity of identity studies in social sciences. In this regard, the development and the growing popularity of identity studies and the types of data it provides community and their problems are examined in this study. Bu makale iThenticate sistemi tarafından taranmıştır.

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Essays about Culture and Identity: 9 Examples And Prompts

Writing essays about culture and identity will help you explore your understanding of it. Here are examples that will give you inspiration for your next essay.

Culture can refer to customs, traditions, beliefs, lifestyles, laws, artistic expressions, and other elements that cultivate the collective identity. Different cultures are established across nations, regions, communities, and social groups. They are passed on from generation to generation while others evolve or are abolished to give way to modern beliefs and systems.

While our cultural identity begins at home, it changes as we involve ourselves with other groups (friends, educational institutions, social media communities, political groups, etc.) Culture is a very relatable subject as every person is part of a culture or at least can identify with one. Because it spans broad coverage, there are several interesting cultural subjects to write about.

Our culture and identity are dynamic. This is why you may find it challenging to write about it. To spark your inspiration, check out our picks of the best culture essays. 

1. Sweetness and Light by Matthew Arnolds

2. how auto-tune revolutionized the sound of popular music by simon reynolds, 3. how immigration changes language by john mcwhorter, 4. the comfort zone: growing up with charlie brown by jonathan franzen, 5. culture and identity definition by sandra graham, 6. how culture and surroundings influence identity by jeanette lucas, 7. how the food we eat reflects our culture and identity by sophia stephens, 8. identity and culture: my identity, culture, and identity by april casas, 9. how america hinders the cultural identity of their own citizens by seth luna, 1. answer the question, “who am i”, 2. causes of culture shock, 3. your thoughts on dystopia and utopia, 4. gender inequality from a global perspective, 5. the most interesting things you learned from other cultures, 6. the relationship between cultural identity and clothes, 7. describe your culture, 8. what is the importance of honoring your roots , 9. how can a person adapt to a new culture, 10. what artistic works best express your country’s culture, 11. how has social media influenced human interaction, 12. how do you protect the cultures of indigenous peoples, 13. are k-pop and k-drama sensations effectively promoting korea’s culture , 14. what is the importance of cultural diversity.

“… [A]nd when every man may say what he likes, our aspirations ought to be satisfied. But the aspirations of culture, which is the study of perfection, are not satisfied, unless what men say, when they may say what they like, is worth saying,—has good in it, and more good than bad.”

Arnolds compels a re-examination of values at a time when England is leading global industrialization and beginning to believe that greatness is founded on material progress. 

The author elaborates why culture, the strive for a standard of perfection, is not merely driven by scientific passions and, more so, by materialistic affluence. As he esteems religion as “that voice of the deepest human experience” to harmonize men in establishing that ideal society, Arnolds stresses that culture is the effort to “make reason and the will of God prevail” while humanizing gained knowledge to be society’s source of “sweetness and light.”

“Few innovations in sound production have been simultaneously so reviled and so revolutionary. Epoch-defining or epoch-defacing, Auto-Tune is indisputably the sound of the 21st century so far.”

Reynolds shows how Auto-Tune has shaped a pop music genre that has cut across cultures. The article maps out the music landscape Auto-Tune created and examines its impact on the culture of song productions and the modern taste for music. While the author debunks accusations that Auto-Tune destroyed the “natural” process of creating music, he also points out that the technology earned its reverence with big thanks to society’s current custom of using technology to hide blemishes and other imperfections.

Looking for more? Check out these essays about culture shock .

“… [T]he heavy immigration that countries like Italy are experiencing will almost certainly birth new kinds of Italian that are rich with slang, somewhat less elaborate than the standard, and… widely considered signs of linguistic deterioration, heralding a future where the “original” standard language no longer exists.”

American linguist McWhorter pacifies fears over the death of “standard” languages amid the wave of immigration to Europe. On the contrary, language is a vital expression of a culture, and for some, preserving is tantamount to upholding a cultural standard. 

However, instead of seeing the rise of new “multiethnolects” such as the Black English in America and Kiezdeutsch in Germany as threats to language and culture, McWhorter sees them as a new way to communicate and better understand the social groups that forayed these new languages.

“I wonder why “cartoonish” remains such a pejorative. It took me half my life to achieve seeing my parents as cartoons. And to become more perfectly a cartoon myself: what a victory that would be.”

This essay begins with a huge fight between Franzen’s brother and father to show how the cultural generation gap sweeping the 60s has hit closer to home. This generation gap, where young adults were rejecting the elders’ old ways in pursuit of a new and better culture, will also be the reason why his family ends up drifting apart. Throughout the essay, Franzen treads this difficult phase in his youth while narrating fondly how Peanuts, a pop culture icon at the time, was his source of escape. 

“…Culture is… your background… and Identity is formed where you belong to… Leopold Sedar Senghor and Shirley Geok-Lin Lim both talks about how culture and identity can impact… society…”

In this essay, Graham uses “To New York” by Senghor and “Learning To Love America” by Lim as two pieces of literature that effectively describe the role of culture and identity to traveling individuals. 

The author refers to Sengho’s reminder that people can adapt but must not forget their culture even if they go to a different place or country. On the other hand, Lim discusses immigrants’ struggle to have double identities.

“Culture is something that surrounds all of us and progress to shape our lives every day… Identity is illustrated as the state of mind in which someone or something distinguishes their own character traits that lead to determining who they really are, what they represent.”

Lucas is keen on giving examples of how his culture and surroundings influence an individual’s identity. She refers to Kothari’s “If you are what you eat, then what am I?” which discusses Kothari’s search for her identity depending on what food she eats. Food defines a person’s culture and identity, so Kothari believes that eating food from different countries will change his identity.

Lucas also refers to “Down These Mean Streets” by Piri Thomas, which argues how different cultural and environmental factors affect us. Because of what we encounter, there is a possibility that we will become someone who we are not. 

“What we grow is who we are. What we buy is who we are. What we eat is who we are.”

Stephens’ essay teaches its readers that the food we grow and eat defines us as a person. She explains that growing a crop and harvesting it takes a lot of effort, dedication, and patience, which mirrors our identity. 

Another metaphor she used is planting rice: it takes skills and knowledge to make it grow. Cooking rice is more accessible than cultivating it – you can quickly cook rice by boiling it in water. This reflects people rich in culture and tradition but who lives simpler life. 

“Every single one has their own unique identity and culture. Culture plays a big role in shaping your identity. Culture is what made me the person I am today and determines who or what I choose to associate myself with.”

Casas starts her piece by questioning who she is. In trying to learn and define who she is, she writes down and describes herself and her personality throughout the essay. Finally, she concludes that her culture is a big part of her identity, and she must understand it to understand herself.

“When it comes to these stereotypes we place on each other, a lot of the time, we succumb to the stereotypes given to us. And our cultural identity is shaped by these expectations and labels others give us. That is why negative stereotypes sometimes become true for a whole group or community.”

In this essay, Luna talks about how negative stereotyping in the United States led to moral distortion. For example, Americans are assumed to be ignorant of other countries’ cultures, making it difficult to understand other people’s cultures and lifestyles. 

She believes that stereotyping can significantly affect an individual or group’s identity. She suggests Americans should improve their intellectual competence by being sensitive to other people’s cultures.

14 Prompts on Essays about Culture and Identity

You can discuss many things on the subject of culture and identity. To give you a starting point, here are some prompts to help you write an exciting essay about culture. 

If you are interested in learning more, check out our essay writing tips and our round-up of the best essay checkers .

Understanding your personality is vital since continuous interaction with others can affect your personality. Write about your culture and identity; what is your personality? How do you define yourself? Everyone is unique, so by writing an essay about who you are, you’ll be able to understand why you act a certain way and connect with readers who have the same values. 

Here’s a guide on writing a descriptive essay to effectively relay your experience to your readers.

Sometimes, people need to get out of their comfort zone and interact with other individuals with different cultures, beliefs, or traditions. This is to broaden one’s perspective about the world. Aside from discussing what you’ve learned in that journey, you can also focus on the bits that shocked you. 

You can talk about a tradition or value that you found so bizarre because it differs from your culture. Then add how you processed it and finally adapted to it.

Dystopia and Utopia are both imagined worlds. Dystopia is a world where people live in the worst or most unfavorable conditions, while Utopia is the opposite. 

You can write an essay about what you think a Dystopian or Utopian world may look like, how these societies will affect their citizens, etc. Then, consider what personality citizens of each world may have to depend on the two worlds’ cultures.

Today, more and more people are fighting for others to accept or at least respect the LGBTQ+ community. However, countries, territories, and religions still question their rights.

In your essay, you can talk about why these institutions react the way they do and how culture dictates someone’s identity in the wrong way. Before creating your own, feel free to read other essays and articles to learn more about the global gender inequality issue. 

The world has diverse cultures, traditions, and values. When you travel to a new place, learning and writing about your firsthand experiences with unique cultures and rituals will always be an interesting read.

In this prompt, you’ll research other cultures and how they shaped their group’s identity. Then, write about the most exciting aspects you’ve learned, why you found them fascinating, and how they differ from your culture.

Those proud of their culture will wear clothes inspired by them. Some wear the same clothes even if they aren’t from the same culture. The debate over cultural appropriation and culture appreciation is still a hot topic. 

In this essay, you may start with the traditions of your community or observances your family celebrates and gathers for. Then, elaborate on their origins and describe how your community or family is preserving these practices. 

Learning about your roots, ancestors, and family cultures can help strengthen your understanding of your identity and foster respect for other cultures. Explore this topic and offer examples of what others have learned. Has the journey always been a positive experience? Delve into this question for an engaging and interesting essay.

When a person moves country, it can be challenging to adapt to a new culture. If there are new people at work or school, you can interview them and ask how they are coping with their new environment. How different is this from what they have been used to, and what unique traditions do they find interesting?

Focus on an art piece that is a source of pride and identity to your country’s culture, much like the Tinikling of the Philippines or the Matryoshka dolls of Russia. Explore its origins and evolution up to its current manifestation and highlight efforts that are striving to protect and promote these artistic works.

The older generation did not have computers in their teen years. Ask about how they dated in their younger years and how they made friends. Contrast how the younger generation is building their social networks today. Write what culture of socialization works better for you and explain why.

Take in-depth navigation of existing policies that protect indigenous peoples. Are they sufficient to serve these communities needs, and are they being implemented effectively? There is also the challenge of balancing the protection of these traditions against the need to protect the environment, as some indigenous practices add to the carbon footprint. How is your government dealing with this challenge?

A large population is now riding the Hallyu or the Korean pop culture, with many falling in love with the artists and Korea’s food, language, and traditional events. Research how certain Korean films, TV series, or music have effectively attracted fans to experience Korea’s culture. Write about what countries can learn from Korea in promoting their own cultures.

Environments that embrace cultural diversity are productive and innovative. To start your essay, assess how diverse your workplace or school is. Then, write your personal experiences where working with co-workers or classmates from different cultures led to new and innovative ideas and projects. Combine this with the personal experiences of your boss or the principal to see how your environment benefits from hosting a melting pot of cultures.

If you aim for your article to effectively change readers’ perspectives and align with your opinion, read our guide to achieving persuasive writing . 

Aisling is an Irish journalist and content creator with a BA in Journalism & New Media. She has bylines in OK! Magazine, Metro, The Inquistr, and the Irish Examiner. She loves to read horror and YA. Find Aisling on LinkedIn .

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Maggie Nelson on the Conversations She Wants to Be Having

By Lauren Michele Jackson

We have a sense, I think, of the false border sequestering art from theory. And so to remark on Maggie Nelson’s facility in mating the two is to say the least about how she does so—which is with a hurtling gusto that nonetheless invites us to pause and think. For this, her books are beloved by audiences with varying attachments to the categories that are often, imperfectly, applied to what they are reading: “memoir,” “art criticism,” “poetry,” “queer theory,” “feminism.” This is one way of saying that describing Nelson’s writing can be harder than consuming it, as one of its defining features involves unfurling the shorthand that governs—literally and figuratively—so much of our lives, including the terms we use to identify ourselves.

Nelson was raised in Northern California and moved to New York after college. While there, in the nineties, she became immersed, academically and recreationally, in the rad ideation in literature, theory, and art of the times, and was guided by her daring predecessors: the poet and novelist Eileen Myles , the artist and writer Wayne Koestenbaum, and the critic and queer theorist Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. Her earliest books christened her a poet, but her writing soon demonstrated a sidewinding relation to that discipline. Her book “ Jane: A Murder ,” published in 2005, assembles all kinds of discursive material, making poetry out of the prosaic and vice versa, in telling the story of her aunt Jane, who was murdered as a young woman. This was the book with which, as my colleague Hilton Als wrote , in 2016, “Nelson went from being a versifier to being a writer who plays with prose and remakes the genre.” That play would be central to her 2015 title, “ The Argonauts ,” about her marriage to the gender-fluid artist Harry Dodge, whose hormone therapy and double mastectomy coincided with Nelson’s pregnancy. The book is about so much more as well: meditations, as in working out in thought, on pedagogy, dogma, ill-fitting idioms. Yet, much as Nelson commits to thinking a thing over from all sides, her voice is firm. “It’s easy to get juiced up about a concept like plurality or multiplicity and start complimenting everything as such,” Nelson writes, echoing Sedgwick and the philosopher Roland Barthes, after whose work the book takes its name. “This is an activity that demands an attentiveness—a relentlessness, even—whose very rigor tips it into ardor.”

As may be expected, then, the title for her recent eleventh book, “ Like Love: Essays and Conversations ,” yields something far more eclectic than its subtitle suggests. The pieces span nearly two decades, from the mid-two-thousands to last year, and each one is a two-hander of sorts, between Nelson and an artist or a work of art. There are lyrical and essayistic encounters with, for example, Kara Walker’s “Event Horizon” and the AIDS novel “ To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life ,” by Hervé Guibert. The conversations—with Moyra Davey, Jacqueline Rose, and Simone White, among others—are as varied as the respective ties between the interlocutors, who are in some cases meeting over video and in others exchanging long, digressive dialogue via e-mail. A reply from Björk is full of line breaks, such that each paragraph resembles a stanza of a poem:

maggie, i am craving so hard other narratives for us, is it just laziness or lack of imagination?

In a pair of recent conversations over Zoom, Nelson spoke with me about the performative aspect of writing, reading her old work, and becoming “lightly interested” in genre for the first time. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

How did this book come together?

Writing can be so solitary. And then this was something that you do where you get out of your head and you try and take on someone else’s. Immerse yourself in their issues and see where they match things that interest you.

I’ve been doing that for a long time, but it had occurred to me that a lot of those pieces were entombed and didn’t feel like they joined any of my wider work. I got excited about just looking at them, culling from many things on my computer. And then there are many more conversations than the ones I included here.

People have often talked about my work as being in conversation with other people, but I felt like these were literalizations of that. Even if you’re quoting and arguing or talking with other people on the page, it’s still just your symphony.

To cite is a conversation.

Whenever you’re quoting people to bolster or argue with, there’s always some degree of repurposing. It really felt exciting to me, as it does in life when people who you’re talking to don’t have your same focus, or see something differently, or maybe even say something and you’re, like, “Oh, I wouldn’t have said that.”

There’s something very tentative about speaking with another person.

There’s a dance you do with people when you’re talking, where you’re leading and following in the conversation. In the last piece with Eileen Myles, for example, there are a lot of “yeah”s and “right”s punctuating it. And there was some pressure, say, in an editorial process, to take those out, and some were taken out.

In your piece on Fred Moten’s essay collection “ Black and Blur ,” there’s this interesting gesture toward the beginning, where you’re, like, Well, I can’t call this a review, because there are certain professional structures and allergy to the kind of . . . “entanglement,” I believe is the word you used. The kind of interpersonal relationship that would preclude that genre of writing.

I respect the rules and norms set in place about people not knowing each other or whatnot. There are, as you’re well aware, all kinds of power dynamics and weird things that come in when it’s, like, this person must have absolutely nothing to do with this scene, whatever. You might get someone who has no clue about anything about queer culture being asked to weigh in on something really that was meant from queer culture to queer culture. You get these things. And I’m not really very interested in that, and never really have been. Especially with these essays on art, even if I didn’t know the person prior to having been commissioned or invited to write a piece, you do then know them and you spend time having them tell you about other ideas and looking at their sketches and watching their old movies.

We went through a moment in which the refrain was, Only somebody who is close to the representational content of the object is of an authority to write about it. And yet the essays in here seem to come alive in unmooring that identity match. Speaking of Hilton in your piece about him, you write that “it’s one thing to theorize the workings of identity and desire, as so many have done; it’s another to set those workings loose in language and let them rip. To give them mouths .” We’re all readers. We’re all quote-unquote consumers of art. How do we set those things loose without, of course, losing attention to the ethical imperative?

That is a really good question. I’d have to think about it, but I think one of my first responses might be just starting from the get-go, analyzing how you came to be writing about it in the first place. I know the process by which, in every case, I came to that person or subject or work. And I think, just with everything in life, not being overly aggressive or defensive but just being inquisitive about your position and what you’re working on and why.

People have a very different relationship to the way they conduct conversations, even conversations meant to be printed. They might not necessarily have the same sense of permanence about their words. How would you characterize your relationship to things that you’ve said in the past?

I have a more performative feeling about writing. I don’t feel like it’s setting things in stone. So I guess in some sense I don’t have a relationship with them. People always ask if I feel bad or weird or regretful or anything about earlier work, and I just really don’t have that set of feelings. Luckily, when I look back I wasn’t, to my ears, spouting anything too batshit crazy.

It’s just a condition of possibility for older conversations. Particularly in that first conversation with my friend [the poet] Brian Blanchfield, taking the temperature of how things felt around queer/trans stuff. And it was not lost on me that a lot of stuff sounded like a really different moment than where we find ourselves right now. I think it’s just you have to be willing to speak in the present.

I wanted to ask you about the title, which brings us back to Hilton, who writes of, as you quote, “mouths that need filling”—I’m not getting it exactly right—“with something like love.” And I was really caught by the alliterative symmetry of that, “like love.” I can imagine many homing in on the “love” as such a fraught and mobile term. But you are leaning in to the force of the simile and the questions that it raises. How did this figure of the simile help you think in this collection? In literature? In life?

I love Hilton’s writing because often I really don’t know what he means, and it’s very evocative. It becomes an invitation to be, like, What the hell does that mean—for something to “fill your mouth like love”? And it got me immediately thinking about [William Carlos] Williams’s famous quote that men die for lack of what’s found in poems. It’s a much more charged-up conversation than just, like, “Well, do we like love? Do we love?” I mean, “Do we like art? Do we love art?”

This question about nourishment—which obviously links to other conversations about the nature of art and survival and different communities in different times and places. In “On Freedom,” I perseverate in a different idiom about problematics of the word “care,” and it being applied in the realm of art. I don’t think caring about life and caring about art are necessarily two different things, but they’re not easily synonymous, either. And so I think that the title of the book holds that along with its positivity.

There’s a lot of ambient distaste for the idea of art as—you quote from Ben Lerner’s “ 10:04 ”—“stylized despair.” You also evoke, from Francis Bacon, this idea of “exhilarated despair.” How do you differentiate between stylized despair and exhilarated despair? Is one a more ethical relation to art than the other?

I am inclined to think of those things as moods or temperaments, which makes me hesitate before I would hang an ethics on them. If one person’s doing stylized despair and someone else is doing exhilarated despair and someone else is doing absolutely not despair, I think of them more as giving us the gifts of inhabiting those moods, such that we can visit with them and make our own determinations about how long we want to stay there or what they have to offer.

There may be people out there—clearly there are—who are wholly in it for the art of insistence. I often hear behind a lot of criticism this quiet hum, as if this is the only art or the best art. And then the reverse of that is there shouldn’t be this art. If I ever dip in either of those directions, I’m pretty worried about what I’m up to. I don’t just write about anything. If someone has me in their studio and I don’t connect, I’m not going to write about it. And, if I see something I don’t like, I really have no need to write about it. If you wanted to get into ethics, I think that there is an ethics in that active attention, but I wouldn’t ride that horse all the way around the ring.

I almost regret the word “ethics.” There’s something so dutiful, I think. Like, “Ah, yes. The ethics of critical attention.”

I really like the conversation with my old friend Simone White in this book. In that conversation, we’re really both asking: Before our good acts of attention get turned into moralism, what else is available while we’re just in the muck of it?

It’s also a way of chafing against the cohering, or maybe standardizing, effect of genre. I’m wondering how you’re thinking about genre now. I was really caught by this line from Eileen Myles about being “so sick of the public account of who I am.” You are someone whose public profile or literary profile is understood as somebody who does chafe against, or finds other routes into or between, genres. How do you think this book will end up figuring into that?

In the conversation with Eileen, we’re also talking about how, whatever moment that the public account begins, it just becomes more and more boring and more and more, in some ways, dissociated from the newness or curiosity you have to find to write anything.

I am sorry, I’m pausing because I’ve never had anything I feel like of interest to say about genre at all. But it’s something that people want to talk about all the time, and I always just feel like, “I just write the books.” To me, it’s like you’re clawing through, and you’re, like, “O.K. It looks like that? O.K.” I will say that, for the very, very first time in my entire life, I’m interested in genre. But it’s taken me this long, and I’m only lightly interested. This book, I feel like, to me it’s an in-joke with myself to have “essays” on the cover, because people have been calling me an essayist for years. And in my opinion I’ve never published any essays ever. I don’t think of any of my work as essays. I don’t have any precious feeling about that genre. That said, I don’t want to be a writer of bad sentences, and I want everything to be interesting. But it’s not like a bouquet of flowers, per se.

Where essays are going for the flower?

Essays can be a million different things. You can call your shopping list an essay. I think it’s just as Eileen would say in that last essay: it’s a shitty edifice. It doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me.

Now I’m so bashful.

No. No. No. No.

I think it’s very scary not to have some sort of structuring framework by which to evaluate something. And yet I also think other people maybe find a lot of life in thinking of themselves in terms of genres.

That’s the thing. If you just want to work and make things look however you want, you have to get really used to people who are, like, “I picked this. I’m thinking it would be this. But it’s like this.” Or “I thought she wrote like this, but it’s like this.” And so what? Who cares? You’re hearing their edifice of what they’d hoped, their Platonic ideal of what they hoped that they were going to pick up. And I like it when I pick up something, I don’t know what it is, and then my head gets blown off. That’s my favorite reading experience. And then I’m left with a lot of bewilderment, like, “What was that?” But that’s not what everyone’s looking for.

In some ways, it’s the least interesting observation you could make about a thing that you just read: “I expected it to be something, and it was something else.”

I’m just not quite interested in policing a work or knowing beforehand what it is. I’m very interested in form or shape and structure. And sometimes they manifest with literary names, but not all the time.

I do feel like formalism is back in a big way. Do you get that sense, too?

I don’t know if you’re like this, too, since you’re a professor, but maybe you’re more serious than I am. I think probably you are. I look at things happening, and I keep a squinted eye on them so that I can know enough to know what my students are talking about, especially the ones in critical-Ph.D. land. But I squint enough so that I can expel them from the writing room when I need to just play. Because I think for most writers, whenever there is something that begins to seem like a trend, you’re just running for the next hill to take cover, find your new plot of land, where you’re going to see what can happen.

I would characterize myself as a very unserious professor, which is to say that half the time it’s a matter of vibes or something.

A vibes-based professorship.

Vibes-based professorship. It’s working so far.

I think students also get tortured a little bit by trends. They’re worried that their work might not be of the moment, and they’re worried their sensibility might not be welcome. I want them all to have a place. I want them all to do what their sensibility leads them to do as well as they can.

How do you feel about teaching now? How is it going for you?

I love teaching. I’ve taught for almost twenty-five years, and it’s just been a constant in my life. It’s a privileged window in which you get to stay in touch with what people, like, eighteen to, I don’t know, thirty-five, or what’s going on with them. In this book, it was really important to me to begin it with this conversation with Wayne Koestenbaum and end it with this conversation with Eileen Myles, to whom I dedicated the book. Because when I was a young person, very young, very young, they both showed me the way, and it was so important to me.

I wanted to take us back to the preface. There’s this quote from James Baldwin in the first paragraph: “All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story, to vomit the anguish up.” At the risk of being a little too cute, I wanted to ask: What anguish, what language, are you vomiting up these days?

I loved waiting to see where you were going with talking about vomit and then saying you thought this was going to be too cute. I was, like, “What is cute about vomit?” I forgot that Baldwin says “artists,” when, in a way, I’m talking in this introduction about being a critic. I think, with Baldwin and with Hilton and other people, [Susan] Sontag , that distinction is blurred in the work, which is the work I admire most. Something could rise up, not just for the artist, as any personal anguish, but also for the critic who’s seen something that they want to tell you about.

The thing about what comes up is that you never know what’s going to come up. You don’t know what you’ve eaten yet. You don’t know what form it’s going to take. Not to beat this metaphor into the ground. If I’m taking things in or living like I am, things are rising up in me to say, and I don’t worry so much about when that will happen.

That’s as good of a description as any for engagement with art, having an aesthetic experience, being open to surprise and having things happen.

I wish I saw a lot more art. But I think that what I have lost in terms of a horizontal spreading I’ve gained in that I have the time and space to do deeper dives. You learn a lot with the deep dive, so it’s always worth taking the time.

Reading gets described as a very visceral experience in a lot of your work, and I’m wondering if it has always been that for you.

As opposed to?

I guess cerebral, to the extent that we want to entertain that distinction.

I mean, I think everything is. I feel like, when we read, we get distracted, we want to throw books across the room. We get tired. We get excited.

Your ideal reading experience is one that blows your head clean off. Have you had any of those experiences lately?

I’m teaching a class right now in criticism, and two books I really liked have been this Ian Penman book on [the German filmmaker Rainer Werner] Fassbinder and Chantal Akerman’s book “ My Mother Laughs .” That’s not about criticism, but I really thought that was terrific. Those were my two favorite books of the summer, and there’s a little book by David Kishik called “ Self Study: Notes on the Schizoid Condition ” that I thought was really terrific. Things can blow your head off for all different kinds of reasons.

Your work garners a great deal of marvel for the breadth and creativity of its citations. And yet you’ve expressed embarrassment about being treated as, in your words, “a big reader,” and I was wondering who or what you were thinking of in comparison, or what would count on your terms as a “big reader”?

It’s a cliché, but the longer you go on in life, I feel, the more that you know you haven’t read and the more conscious you are of the time that you’re spending in traffic or scrolling or whatever. I don’t actually feel regret about it, per se. This is not a wistful or sad orientation. It’s more of an observing one.

I went to graduate school because I was, like, “O.K., I read a lot about Freud but actually never read any Freud.” And then, when you go to the source text, they’re actually typically so much more anarchic and wild and interesting than you were led to believe by the glosses. I think I have a lot of reading ahead of me. A lot of things that just stand as big open kingdoms that I haven’t yet entered.

There’s this feeling in the air that nobody’s reading or everyone’s anxious about how much they are or are not reading, whether audiobooks count as reading. And I almost wonder if that’s in some way a tacit acknowledgment that reading does demand so much from us in that visceral throwing-a-book-across-the-room way.

I don’t have anything original to add to the discourse around the demise of reading. [The writer and musician] Brontez Purnell was visiting my class last semester, and it was just so great. He was just saying, “I’m not ashamed of scrolling. Are you guys ashamed of your scrolling?” I like this idea that we don’t have to approach everything we do with an “Oh, God, I hate that I’m doing this.” That we can actually just be more cognizant and curious and then also accepting of what we are doing.

I read a lot of books in New York City when there weren’t smartphones, and I took the subway everywhere. That’s not my life anymore. But wherever I can make space to have encounters with books that take time and trouble—those constitute the most transformative and sustaining experiences, really, that I have.

I recently returned to “ The Art of Cruelty .” I opened to a random page, and it took me to the piece that was prompted by the marketing for that 2007 film starring Elisha Cuthbert, “Captivity,” which is part of the genre we might call torture porn. In a line that leaped out at me, you write, “It isn’t much fun to analyze American pop culture anymore.” And you call it something of a “dead end” and a “bore.”

And you’re, like, “Wait a minute. This is what I do.”

You do clarify that you’re not necessarily generalizing. You’re talking about yourself, but I do wonder if you still feel that way.

No, I don’t feel that way. I don’t even know if I felt that way then, entirely. That book is interesting. It was written at this really different moment, even a very different political moment. The book grew out of the Abu Ghraib moment. I don’t really talk about it very much, because the book is really about art, but I was involved with these same questions that Sontag and others had about “What does looking really do?” Which obviously has continued as a discussion about various death spectacles.

But I think that sense of “It’s already offering its own critique,” or “It’s kind of already analyzing itself,” or “It already was kind of part and parcel of this feeling of a kind of . . . ” I don’t know if I would say “despair,” but a frustration that the logic of shock was not going to hold.

It does hold a little bit, it’s not binary, but I’m just saying the mood of the book was there. I’d also just moved to Los Angeles, and there was a certain cynicism. I had moved to West Hollywood, which was very strange. I didn’t really know L.A., and I don’t really know why I moved there, in the belly of the beast of a lot of marketing such that I’d never seen before. And that film was unfortunately one of the first campaigns that I was being immersed in, and it felt to me very related to what was going on with imagery of torture elsewise.

The postering in L.A. is a whole other level of intensity.

The horizon-blotting-out billboard where you can’t look at anything else. I’m over it now. I’ve adapted. I also don’t live in that part of town, but it was pretty jarring when I first got here.

I can well imagine. I would say, though, that it does feel like there’s a kind of revival of the quandary you were thinking through in that book for the past few years. Obviously, the tradition of Black political writing has had a long discourse about the efficacy of witnessing that got, again, revived during the uprising of 2020 . And then I can’t help but think about what’s going on in our most immediate contemporary moment. There are those who would say that seeing, witnessing, is a lever of doing. And then there are many who are seeing that argument put under pressure once again. You haven’t thought about the book in a minute, but I’m wondering if you’ve given any thought to that pressing question of the book, considering our collective witnessing of what’s being done—

—I wouldn’t write the same book the same way now. In my mind, that book is the third of a trilogy. The other two being a book called “Jane” and a book called “ The Red Parts .” And they’re all about sexual violence and about ways of narrativizing or spectacularizing. I wouldn’t even say “witnessing.” I would just say “commodifying,” or something, the problem. That book was also married up with my own job at the time—lecturing about art history—because my interests in art were broader than that.

I would never say witnessing is not a lever of doing, or that it doesn’t have value in and of itself, or that it can’t be something really problematic in and of itself. I think it’s just more that famous Sontag quote, which I don’t quite have at the tip of my tongue, where she says something like “The problem with compassion is that it withers.”

There’s a window of opportunity about what to do with it. I know a lot of people have reached a kind of horror-saturation fatigue, and are not seeing, and have to ask themselves hard questions about—What is all the looking? Is it changing what I’m doing? Am I doing the same, either something or nothing? Also, that book was written at a really different moment with the Internet. It was, I think, written on dial-up. I’m kind of a slow adapter, so it was not a smartphone-era book at all. There’s so much that’s changed since then.

One of the things that becomes interesting to track across the conversations in your latest book, but that’s also implied in conversation across your other books, is this increasing, maybe, skepticism from others with this mode of constant questioning, of interrogating and unsettling, blah, blah, blah. There’s this moment in “The Argonauts” which I really love, when you’re writing about a friend’s feminist-theory class that’s growing disruptively tired of dismantling identities. So much theory of the eighties and nineties was this mode of interrogating which was ostensibly meant to liberate subsequent generations from either identifying or being identified in a certain way. The notion that the inheritors of that are a little bit impatient with it, or there’s something there that actually isn’t sustaining to them, is very interesting to me.

I do think there is a lot of exhaustion with some earlier modes that seemed exciting at the time, but I think that’s as it should be, because people kind of run something through to its logical extensions and then just kind of say, “Well, that was an interesting joyride. Where’s the next car to pick it up?” I think people, a lot of people, students and otherwise that I know, are pretty tired of feeling really bad. And so they’re asking a lot of questions, as Fred [Moten] says, about “How can we make this feel better?” And it doesn’t mean anything easy. And, like I say, it doesn’t mean just being, like, “Oh, make everything like love.” It doesn’t mean that at all. But I do see that kind of everywhere. And I do feel on the playing field with people in terms of figuring out, especially post-pandemic, how we don’t have to make things worse than they may already feel.

You have this lovely piece on Hilton, and I went back and read his piece on you, and he writes that your work “picks at the underbelly of certainty and finds scabs.” I was thinking about this notion of certainty which remains under pressure in a lot of your pieces. Are there moments when you do feel the need to insist or feel a kind of recourse toward certainty or a need to show your hand in a certain way? Are there terms that you won’t contest either for yourself or for others or for the way that you read or interpret a piece of art?

Well, I’m pretty allergic to charges of false consciousness. Just as a kind of guiding rule, I would not really focus on terms that others use. I recently interviewed [the philosopher] Judith Butler for City Lights about their new book, “ Who’s Afraid of Gender? ,” and I felt I really saw them in that book, which is doing what, I think, a lot of people are trying to do, which is really trying to draw communal attention to the terms that we can agree on together. Not that you would never contest them. No, there’s no term I wouldn’t contest personally, because I’m a contestor.

We both know that contestation is part of any political or even aesthetic movement worth its salt. But, at the same time, I think the forces are so egregious that to lose sight of our solidarities is really a recipe for our failure.

I did have a Butler-related question, about our lost hold on the word “performativity,” as both Butler and [the British philosopher] J. L. Austin would have us think of it, in terms of language making reality. I feel there was such a value in the way that they had us think about that term, that this reconfigured meaning of “fake” or “false” doesn’t help us understand in the same way.

The title “Like Love” has built into it a question about performativity. Is it “love” or is it “like love”? And, if it’s “like love,” is that a performance of love? And how do you tell what’s the real thing, right? Maybe here in the pages of The New Yorker is where I tell the world that my undergraduate thesis, when I was but twenty, was titled “The Performance of Intimacy.” I was very interested at that time in literary performances of intimacy—not as false but as embodied and made manifest. At the time, I participated in a lot of dance, and there’s not a distinction in dance between a performance or a gesture that’s real or that’s fake. You’re doing it, you’re gesturing, you’ve moved into the space, and you’re moving your body and you’re making a claim.

All of which is to say that I think the use of the word “performativity” that Butler is always railing against now as a misinterpretation remains important to me, because I think Butler is talking about our lived, embodied lives together and paying close attention to what we do with each other. And I think that is a realm in which true and false are not the most . . . you don’t get the most bang for your buck, let’s just say, with those ideas.

You mention, as you put it, “frustration—which sometimes threatens to tip into rage—that you feel when the conversations you’re having are not the ones you wish you were having.” I guess this is a rather absurd question to ask at the end, but I’m wondering: What are the conversations that you would like to be having more often?

I’m here for the ideas. The conversations we don’t want to be having are the ones that proceed from rotten starts. And it really matters politically, obviously, as well because . . . I can’t remember the Toni Morrison quote, but people set the terms, and then you’re playing defense for the rest of your life, and it’s just a waste of our time. But then you have to get out from under it very quickly. ♦

More New Yorker Conversations

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Isabel Allende’s vision of history .

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John Waters is ready for his Hollywood closeup .

Patrick Stewart boldly goes there .

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By Katy Waldman

By Deborah Treisman

By Jackson Arn

How to Write a Discursive Essay: Tips to Succeed & Examples

So, you need to accomplish your discursive essay writing. The typical questions most students ask are: How do you write it? What is discursive essay?

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A discursive essay is an academic paper that involves a discussion on a particular topic. It is usually assigned to college students. You may be required to write a paper wherein you have to do one of the following:

• argue for the issue or against it;
• present your points of view on both sides;
• provide your unprejudiced opinion on that matter.

Don’t panic!

Check out the tips from  Custom-writing.org  experts below. They will assist you in discursive writing and encourage you to examine essay examples. Moreover, in this article, you’ll also learn about different types of discursive essay, and its introduction, main body, and conclusion structure.

• ❓ What Is It?
• 🏁 Main Types

Introduction

• Basic Don’Ts
• ✏️ Frequent Questions

❓ What Is a Discursive Essay?

First of all, let’s figure out what the discursive essay is.

You may think it’s similar to the argumentative essay. Yes, but there’s a difference between them in the structure and purpose of these two types of assignments:

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We will take a detailed look at how to structure a discursive essay later, and now let’s find out what are the types of this assignment.

Keep reading!

🏁 Discursive Essay: Main Types

You have to think more critically and more in-depth when reviewing all viewpoints and aspects of discursive writing. Check these three main types of essay writing:

• Opinion Essay  requires the author’s opinion on an issue which is stated in the introductory paragraph. It should be clearly presented and followed by reasons and supporting examples. Also, this essay paper should contain an opposing argument that comes before the conclusion. The writer must explain to readers why the mentioned argument is considered to be unconvincing. The writer’s opinion should be restated/summarized in the conclusion.
• For and Against Essay  provides readers with a thorough debate on the topic with the help of opposing points of view. Each point should be discussed objectively and described in details. The introductory paragraph puts the issue under consideration. The main body of this essay paper should present examples, reasons, and arguments supported by justifications. The author’s own opinion with balanced reflections on the topic should be stated only in conclusion.
• Essay Suggesting Solution to a Problem  discusses problems and finds the main solutions. The introduction paragraph explicitly declares a problem and analyses its causes and consequences. The main body of the essay should offer some suggestions for a possible solution to the problem and potential state consequences or expected results. In conclusion, author’s opinion should be distinctly summarized.

📑 How to Write a Discursive Essay

Well, it’s time to talk about the structure of a discursive essay. Like most of the assignments, a discursive paper starts with an introduction and ends with a conclusion:

The first question you may ask is how to start a discursive essay introduction. Simple!

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• Give your readers a hook – something that would sound interesting to them.
• Provide a short explanation of the problem. You may use quotations, as well as rhetorical questions.
• Show your readers both sides of the arguments and sum up.

You may be wondering…

Is there something I should avoid in my discursive essay introduction?

Yes. No stereotypes and generalizations, please!

The next step under formal essay writing you should take is to compose the body.

There are a few points you should remember:

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• First and foremost: stay unprejudiced . Assess all of the aspects of an issue. Leave your feelings behind or for another essay type.
• Second: build your argumentation . If you have several arguments for your viewpoint—provide them in separate paragraphs. This will help you to keep your essay comprehensible and distinct. Don’t forget to submit supporting evidence.
• Third: write the body of an essay in an alternate manner. What does it mean? If your first paragraph supports the paper’s argument, then in the second paragraph you should write something in the opposite of it. Such a combination of supporting and opposite paragraphs will make your essay look apparent, and well researched. Besides, it will help you to remain neutral.
• Fourth: include topic sentences and evidence . Write a summary of the argument at the beginning of the paragraph. It will allow the reader to easier understand what the paragraph is about. Provide evidence to show that you’re not making the facts up.

Well, you’ve almost finished your writing. Now you should focus on the last section. Keep reading, and you will learn how to write a conclusion for a discursive essay.

• In the last section, you should summarize your article including the main points, specified in the body paragraphs.
• You may also logically express your opinion. Remember: it should resonate with your evidence stated in the body paragraphs.
• Don’t repeat findings, just summarize them.

Keep it short. Your conclusion length should not exceed one paragraph.

👍 Do’s and Don’ts

Do you want more discursive essay writing tips? Fine! Just check them below:

Basic Do’s of a Discursive Essay

• Write in formal, impersonal style.
• Introduce each point in a separate paragraph
• Use topic sentences for each paragraph
• Write well-developed paragraphs
• Give reasons and examples for each point
• Use sequencing
• Use linking words and phrases
• Make references to other sources and make sure that you follow proper citation style
• Identify used sources

Basic Don’Ts of a Discursive Essay

• Don’t use short forms, like I’ll, don’t, they’ve
• Don’t use informal/colloquial language, for example: old as the hills, ain’t, gonna, etc.
• Don’t use very emotional language, since it might make your discursive article look prejudiced
• Don’t use over-generalizations. Extending the features of some elements from a group more than it is reasonable will lead to generous and inaccurate conclusions.
• Don’t express your personal opinion too insistently
• Don’t refer to statistics without proper referencing (check our citation guides )
• Don’t use personal examples, leave it for a personal experience essay

Well, now you know what discursive essay means, what are its main types, and how to structure it.

Discursive Essay Topics

• Discussion of risk factors that impact human health.  
• Discuss the necessity of understanding cultural heritage to provide efficient health care.  
• Analyze different opinions on withdrawing patients’ treatment. 
• Examine different views on the Civil War . 
• Discuss what hostile emotional states are and how they impact human life.  
• Discuss the meaning of metaphors used by Virgil in Aeneid . 
• Describe different opinions on telehealth in nursing homes. 
• The ethicality of stem cell technology. 
• Explore the effectiveness of motivational interviewing . 
• Discuss how people present themselves online . 
• Discuss the reasons for Coca-Cola’s marketing success.      
• Analyze the food safety issues and the ways to improve the situation.  
• Examine the essential meaning of sleep for people’s physical and mental health.  
• Explore various complications of working with groups . 
• Discussion of the modern issues with virtue ethics . 
• Describe different views on the definition of love . 
• Give the for and against arguments considering food security technologies .  
• Discuss how the concept of the American dream is presented in the film The Great Gatsby .  
• Analyze the influence of family problems on children and suggest ways to improve the situation.  
• Present the various points of view on the ethical concepts of Buddhism . 
• Examine the attitudes towards the problem of homelessness and the suggested ways of its solution.   
• Explore different opinions on the American revolution and its consequences.  
• Discuss various policies and views around the globe on abortion . 
• Discussion of the history of food foraging in different communities.  
• Multiple thoughts on civility on the Internet . 
• Analyze arguments on the effectiveness of hand sanitizers . 
• Discuss the importance of visual aids in learning. 
• Present and evaluate the theories of international development . 
• Discuss how to prevent the spread of the West Nile Virus (WNV). 
• Is embracing renewable energy sources beneficial for both environment and the global economy?    
• Examine the correctness of the statement that the ideology of pleasure is the foundation of social activism .  
• Discussion of the ethical dilemma of population control.  
• Discuss the ethics of experimental studies .  
• Analyze the topic of gun violence and gun control laws.  
• Explore the reasons for opioid crises in the US.  
• Give arguments for and against random drug testing . 
• Discuss the problem of endangered species . 
• Express your opinion on the necessity of parents to be included in children’s education . 
• Present your attitude towards working in a bureaucratic organization . 
• Discuss the issue of the nursing shortage and suggest a solution.  
• Give different viewpoints on the definition of beauty .  
• Analyze the problem of police misconduct . 
• Discuss the description of violence of African people in literature . 
• Examine the views on Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory . 
• Describe the various opinions on mysticism and express your attitude towards it.  
• Discuss the diverse standpoints on spirituality . 
• Is nature protection an urgent problem?  
• Analyze different ideas on physical privacy at work . 
• Discussion on the Jewish heritage in nursing. 
• Examine the views on the meaning of life .  

Good luck with your discussions and discursive essays! Be sure to check out the articles on our blog for more academic wisdom. By the way, on the Custom-Writing website, you may find the best essay topics for your academic writing.

And don’t forget to share your opinion in the comments below.

You might also be interested in:

• Friendship Essay: Writing Guide & Topic Ideas about Friendship
• Teamwork Essay: Quick Guide on How to Write a Good Paper
• Compare and Contrast Essay Writing Tips and Examples
• Transportation Essay: Writing Tips and Brilliant Topics

✏️ Discursive Essay FAQ

There is no one definitely correct answer to this question. Like any other essay, the text should have a clear structure with an introduction, body, and conclusion. The most important thing is that the overall book needs to be cohesive, persuasive, and exciting to read.

An example of a step by step guide is:

1. Take a closer look at the topic, think about the points to cover.

2. Choose the most relevant points and compose the Body of the essay.

3. Add an appropriate Introduction and Conclusion.

To write a good conclusion, you need to have the rest of the essay finished. Does the body of your essay present well-structured points? Great, then see what you can conclude based on that. If possible, make a connection between the introduction and the conclusion.

To ensure that your essay has a perfect structure, start with creating an outline. Based on such a plan, you can present your points step by step. Your text should have a relevant introduction, several points in the main body (with examples), and a logical conclusion.

🔗 References

• Writing an Opinion Essay: Grace Fleming, ThoughtCo
• How to Write a Good Argumentative Essay: Easy Step-by-Step Guide: Master Class
• Ending the Essay: Conclusions: Harvard College Writing Center
• Academic Writing Style: University of Southern California
• Cite Your Sources: Library Guides at University of California, Santa Cruz
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When you hear the phrase “spiritual leadership,” you probably think it’s only associated with religion. But did you know that this form of leadership can also be found in business? The book Spiritual Leadership: Moving People on to God’s Agenda by Henry and Richard Blackaby is a good starting point...

High school and college students often face challenges when crafting a compare-and-contrast essay. A well-written paper of this kind needs to be structured appropriately to earn you good grades. Knowing how to organize your ideas allows you to present your ideas in a coherent and logical manner This article by...

“If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?” is one of the most debatable philosophical questions regarding observation and perception. Many tried to answer it, including the English philosopher John Locke. Do you need to explore Locke’s perspective on this question in your essay? You are on the right...

The long-standing debate surrounding abortion has many opponents and advocates. Groups known as Pro-Choice and Pro-Life argue which approach is better, with no easy solution in sight. This ethical complexity is what makes abortion a popular topic for argumentative writing. As a student, you need to tackle it appropriately. If...

What is the most important part of any essay or research paper? Of course, it’s the thesis statement—a sentence that expresses the paper’s main idea and guides the readers through your arguments. But where do you place the thesis? You’ve probably answered, “in the introduction.” However, that’s not all of...

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CALL FOR EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS AND REVIEWERS

We, at Intersections , are looking forward to extending our team. Intersections: A Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies (ISSN: 2583-1542)is an interdisciplinary academic journal that encourages new research in literature and cultural studies. Published by the Department of English, Kidderpore College, it offers an interactive forum for critical discourses.

While the journal already has a distinguished editorial team, and an experienced body of reviewers, Intersections is looking for more editors and reviewers to propel the journal towards greater excellence.

As a member of the Editorial Board, one would be expected to act in close unison with the Editor-in-Chief and the other Editorial Board Members, and thereby preserve the standard of the journal and enhance its scholarship. This could be an opportunity to connect the authors and readers at interesting crossroads. The editor would thus act as an envoy of the journal to the communities of scholars and general readers. Thus, an editor would be required to discharge the following responsibilities: 

• Edit the submitted articles carefully and return the edited copies to the Editor-in-Chief within the stipulated time frame, so as to facilitate smooth and timely publication of the journal issue. 
• Check whether the author has carried out the arguments in the article cogently and mark out the inconsistencies, if any.
• Check spelling, typographical, grammatical, punctuation, and such other errors meticulously, at the time of editing of the submitted manuscript.
• Look for errors in citations in the manuscript, and ensure that they are in line with the journal’s prescribed guidelines.
• Attend virtual Editorial Board Meetings once a year.

As a member of the Reviewer’s Panel, one is also expected to work in tandem with the Editor-in-Chief, by reviewing submitted manuscripts, with the following concerns in mind:

• Since this is a double-blind peer reviewed journal, the reviewer’s and the author’s identities would remain undisclosed to each other. To preserve confidentiality, no information regarding the reviewers will be put up on the public domain, such as the journal website, but shall remain confidential, and strictly limited to the Editor-in-Chief and other Associate Editors.
• Although manuscripts are usually sent to reviewers keeping in mind their research interests, the reviewer may occasionally be requested to review articles that may or may not be tangentially related to one’s research interests only. The Reviewer would nevertheless be requested to carry out the review process to the best of his or her abilities.
• The Reviewer would be required to minutely go through the paper, and point out all errors that would then be passed on to the author for the first round of corrections. Types of errors could include, but might not remain limited to, syntactical, grammatical, logical, sequential, typographical, citational errors. The reviewer should insert comments or use “Track Change” mode in Microsoft Word for the purpose.

Since this is a double-blind peer reviewed journal, it is a kind request that utmost care be exercised so that the Reviewers’ / Editors’ names are not revealed, in the Word Document in which the reviewing or editing is being done.

Editors and Reviewers having research interests in American Literature, Digital Humanities, Linguistics, Literary Theory, Translation Theory and Translation Studies, English Language Teaching, Film Studies, Science Fiction, Posthumanism, Ecocriticism, World Literatures, and Graphic Novels are most welcome; however, this list is neither exhaustive nor restrictive.

Working either as a part of the Editorial Team or the Reviewers’ Panel, Intersections will surely provide an exciting opportunity, and offer a unique discursive space. This shall naturally enable you to remain closely associated with the current trends in research, and widen your network in the research community. So, look no further, and come and join our vibrant community of highly enthusiastic researchers, reviewers, editors, and readers. Like almost all reviewing/editing works for academic journals in India, this work too, humbly requests the editor/reviewer to excuse Intersection ’s inability to provide them with an honorarium for their work.

For more details on Intersections , you are encouraged to visit the Journal Website, go through the latest volume and look up the previously published volumes in the Archive:  https://intersectionsonline.in/

Click on the following link and duly fill up the Google Form https://forms.gle/BpXfcm5y763nqwcG9        by the 12th of April, 2024.