Asses the view Giddens’ structuration approach best explains how individuals’ identity is formed (24 marks)
There are different approaches towards the idea of how identities are formed.
Structural approach see identities formed by the wider social forces making up and influencing the social structure of society – it can be visualised as an individual whom is a puppet and a society which is the force that pulls the strings.
According to Marxist model, social class is the most important factor that influences an individual’s identity. The stratification is as follows: people from the upper classes who employ legions of workers and don’t need to work themselves to generate money (only 1% of UK’s population) and people from the working class who need to work gain money, no matter how much they earn (99% of population in the UK). These limit an individual’s choice of identity because an average working-class person cannot choose to be the fox-hunting, opera-watching member of an upper class’ club, perhaps due to the lack of income.
Feminists would argue because not only the class can limit an individual’s choice according to them – in fact, a working-class woman would have it much more difficult than a working- class man because of the patriarchy which controls females. For example, it is more likely that a man who is even less intelligent than a woman, will still get the top job because it is impossible for him to go on the maternity leave.
The idea of concrete ceiling in feminism – being able to see clearly that barrier ahead of you but not being able to break through it – influences identities of women who are often considered as worse than men and therefore they are being more disadvantages concluding in a decreased possibility of becoming who they truly want to be.
This can be proved by the fact that there are no women in that 1% of upper class who made it to the top showing there is no equality between the genders.
Marxist’s point here would be that in order to make society more equal, the social classes would need to be sorted out