CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES

1. What is positioning? How does it clarify the relational character of identity?

Identity construction involves a dynamic between the self and the other, which then produces social representations. These representations provide “various possible identities” or positions that individuals may take to “help them structure their social world and orient themselves within this world” (Andreouli, 2010). Individuals and groups construct social identities that reflect their efforts to situate or position themselves within their society. Positioning is literally placing and shaping yourself in relation to others.

2. How does positioning explain how marginalized groups negotiate and assert their collective identities in asymmetric social relations where they experience discrimination and prejudice?

Positioning is an on-going discursive process. Therefore, it is not fixed or stable and can be reshaped or reconfigured. This can explain how marginalized groups see themselves and assert their identities. A marginalized group’s collective identity is shaped by how they position themselves with the majority who discriminate them. The marginalized group is the “other”. Their identity is shaped by their experiences as the “other” in relation to the majority and the discrimination and prejudice they experience because of it.

Owing to positioning’s nature of being an on-going discursive process, some individuals in marginalized groups might experience a dissonance with their personal identity and collective identity such as the example with the Chinese-British woman interviewed in the book. She personally identifies as British – she has Chinese origins but was raised in Britain since a young age. However, she doesn’t feel accepted as a British citizen because people do not view her as one, owing to her Chinese origins. But then, she also feels a dissonance with the collective who are also marginalized with her. She feels she is more British than the others.