ENG ELC 220 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Personal Branding, The Iron Maiden, Identity Management
30 Sep 2020
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Introduction to Business Communication
Chapter 9 – Communication and identity
- Identity is a notion that has become central to much social and political debate in recent
years, both at the collective and the individual level
- Language(s) a person speaks, and the way that person uses it (them), are important parts of
their identity
- Identity:
o Involves feelings of identification with groups
o Is a social phenomenon
o Is important in social interaction —> influence on people’s linguistic choices
9.1 What is identity?
- Identity has something to do with how we see ourselves and how we want to be seen by
others
- Everyday language: —> are, to a large extent myths
o Something highly personal
o Single, homogenous unit
o A question of who you are
o Something that doesn’t change
The identity myths:
- Individual’s identity is purely a matter of their personal characteristics:
o Name, birthplace, age or age group, whether they feel themselves to be creative or
athletic, …
o It is determined by the roles the person plays, by their sense of belonging to various
social groups and organisations —> affiliations
o Sometimes the personal and group level overlap
o Social groups and organisations also have characteristics —> date of their
foundation, number of members
o Today, brands are considered to have identities as well
- Nobody has one single identity:
o We have multiple identities
o Some of a person’s multiple identities may be in conflict with each other
- A person’s identity is simply a question of who they are:
o It is more a question of who or what they are not
o We draw boundaries around ourselves, and around people we believe to be like us
—> differentiating ourselves from others
o OTHERING: the act of differentiating oneself from the ‘other’
- Identities are stable and static:
o Identities also change
o We grow older, move house, change jobs, while our feelings and ambitions mutate
and develop
Identity work:
- Changes in identity may be a result of our own conscious efforts
- An identity is something we have to ‘carry out’, not ‘have’
- Identities are performed or enacted through interaction
- Identity work:
o ‘work’ is designed to emphasise the idea that identity is best seen as something that
can be worked on, performing it requires effort
- The elements of identity work:
o Identity is thoroughly social
▪ We always develop identities and do ongoing work in relation to other
people
▪ We have no sense of self except as shaped by significant others around us
▪ Identity is not a self-contained essence exclusive to any individual
o Identity is always contingent and ongoing
▪ Identities change and adapt to shifting social contexts in which we find
ourselves
o Identity draws on various societal discourses
▪ They enable us to develop a self-identity that is meaningful and coherent
o Identity involves struggle
▪ Both employees and employer compete over the particular conception of
workplace identity that will prevail
o Identity is a communication phenomenon
▪ Workers perform identities through daily communication practices and
companies attempt to shape workers’ identities y developing strategic
communication processes that attempt to provide a coherent work
narrative in which workers can invest
- Some changes through identity work are permanent
- Some are temporary, as we adjust ourselves to the situation we find ourselves in
9.2 Communicating identity
9.2.1 Communicating collective identities
- Some ways in which social groups and organisations communicate identity are non-verbal
- In such cases, language is bound to play a major role —> messages or purposes will have to
be communicated in words
- Collective identities are communicates in two directions:
o Inwards: to the members of the group or organisation concerned
o Outwards: to the public in general and, in particular to organisations’ stakeholders
Language choice:
- The choice of language(s) used in communication says something about the identity that
collectives wish to project
Alignment:
- An organisation can associate itself with and implicitly endorse certain ideas
o Languages can be used to convey a message
o Lexical choices:
▪ The use specific language variety
▪ An organisation might opt to use a particular register
Narratives: (inward-directed identity work)
- Founding myth or origin myth:
o Powerful tool for constructing identities which will appeal to prospective employees
and customers
- Career story:
o Focuses on the personal circumstances and achievements of high-profile individuals
- Narratives can be crucial in managing the process of change:
o Organisations need new narratives that help in constructing a new identity that is in
line with its new objectives and strategies
- Fiol divides the change process into various stages:
o Deidentification:
▪ Affiliations with the existing identity need to be broken down
▪ Negative narratives will be needed
Document Summary
Identity is a notion that has become central to much social and political debate in recent years, both at the collective and the individual level. Language(s) a person speaks, and the way that person uses it (them), are important parts of their identity. Is important in social interaction > influence on people"s linguistic choices. Identity has something to do with how we see ourselves and how we want to be seen by others. Everyday language: > are, to a large extent myths: something highly personal, single, homogenous unit, a question of who you are, something that doesn"t change. Individual"s identity is purely a matter of their personal characteristics: name, birthplace, age or age group, whether they feel themselves to be creative or athletic, . Nobody has one single identity: we have multiple identities, some of a person"s multiple identities may be in conflict with each other. A person"s identity is simply a question of who they are:
