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.