How do young people form their collective identity through reality TV?

We begin developing our identity from a very young age and as we grow up we form our collective identites (our sense of belonging). There exist multiple ways of developing a collective identity. This can range from music to movies to clothing to hairstyles, but some decide to develop their collective identites through Reality Television, which shows how people form their collective identities ranging from youths to adults.

Reality Television generally tends to focus on how youths create their collective identites. Good examples of Reality shows which do this are Made in Chelsea, Georgie Shore and The Only Way is Essex. These shows all include their own groups of youths that are from a smilar class and share similar interests. For example, Made in Chelsea consists of exclusively upper class individuals that have built their collective identities over their success and well mannered behaviour. They also have a sense of belonging based upon the expensive clothes they wear, the high class parties they attend as well as the way in which they speak to each other. Henri Tajfel's theory suggests that the groups we chose to associate ourselves with become an important part of our lives and influence our identities. This theory is present in Made in Chelsea as relationships are constantly beginning and ending and throughout the series this has an impact on some of the characters' personalities. An example of this is Spencer spending more time with Caggie, which impacts on his feelings which eventually causes him to end his relationship with Funda.

In some effect, creating collective identities through Reality TV conforms to Marxism as within these Reality shows people generally tend to dress in the same style, act in a similar fashion and communicate using a similar vocabulary. The only factor which contests this point is Henri Tajfel's theory that there is an "in group" as well as an "out group" - something which is shown in Made in Chelsea through having Ollie's circle of friends which generally does not socialise with the rest of the people.

Another collective identity which is different from Made in Chelsea would be Geordie Shore, where the focus is less about financial power and more about going out, partying and having sexual intercourse. This creates a sense of belonging especially for the males who appear to compete to see who is able to get the most women, showing that they share an interest. From this behaviour young people can assume that this is the ideal lifestyle for all teenagers/young adults and thus this becomes a lifestyle they admire and hope to become part of.

Having a large mixture of social identites is what contributes to the diversity of social identites in the world. However, this can also have negative effects as being part of a group can often end up with stereotypes being created. This then takes away from the uniqueness of your identity as you are categorized and essentially given a label based on the people you associate yourselves with. This can make it very difficult for young people to differentiate themselves with the rest of the people they hang out with as others who are not part of the same group cannot see past this label. This point is also backed up by Michael Foucault, who said that when you associate yourself with a group you begin to represent something as a group which creates stereotypes of others who are also related to that group. In some cases people in the reality shows try to break away from their stereotypes by behaving differently or forming different ideas. An example of this would be in Made in Chelsea where Ollie admits to his lack of preference between males and females which in most situations may be frowned upon in a high class environment.

In conclusion, young people form their collective identities through Reality Television such as the cast in Made in Chelsea, Georgie Shore, and The only Way is Essex through having similar personalities and interests as well as they way in which they dress, behave etc. This all combined creates their collective identity.

To what extent does social digital media give us a sense of belonging - a 'collective identity'?

Social digital media enables us to create virtual profiles which represents who are are as a person. We are able to express our opinions and reveal our activities to many people who are also able to share their input through commenting on statuses. Using facebook as an example, people are able to have a sense of belonging by joining groups that they are interested in.

Social digital media goes against the marxist theory as everyone is able to create their own identity through uploading pictures of videos and being able to express their own opinions - meaning they are not all the same. 

Henry Jenkins' theory supports the idea of social media giving us a sense of belonging. This is because his theory mentions that activities such as upading profiles, uploading pictures and writing on eachothers virtual 'walls' is a way for people to experiment with their identities, and 'can be a space for exploring one's gender identification and sexuality'. Therefore, creating your identity and finding others who also share your interests will give you a sense of belonging.

 Another theory which helps to justify why social digital media gives us a sense of belonging is Merleau Ponty, who says that anything in which we use our bodies to create new things builds our identity. This c ould be related to Mark Zuckerberg creating facebook. He had a vision that people could connect over one large network of profiles. He created facebook which was him expressing his identity and many people instantly took an interest in the website which gave him a sense of belonging.

However, social digital media has downsides aswell. It can also be used for destructive purposes - something which was proven during the London 2011 riots, where many people used social digital media such as twitter and facebook to co-ordinate attacks. This helped to create a collective identity for the young rioters who teamed up against society. Social digital media can also be seen from Micel Foucalt's theory as  being 'obtrusive'. This is because when many people can create collective identities such as groups on facebook, some of them are going to clash and disputes will emerge. 

In conclusion social digital media gives us a sense of belonging as we are able to create our own profiles and find other people who share our interests, we can join groups that we want to associate ourselves with and can share our input through commenting. It can be used for both positive and negative purposes but nonetheless they create collective identities.