Capítulo 1. Marco conceptual y normativo
1.6 Estudios de factibilidad
Butler’s work (1990; 1993; 1997) on gender performativity has had a profound effect on how feminists, sociologists, and consumer researchers theorise gender (Bettany et al. 2010). The possibility to ‘undo’ gender norms is seen as one of Butler’s (2004) most important contributions to gender theory. In her earlier work, Butler (1990) argues that gender can potentially be ‘worn or not worn’, much like ‘selecting an outfit to wear’ (Bettany et al. 2010:14). She purports that new gender identities can be formed in a playful manner, being taken up and abandoned, unpacked and recombined (Butler 1990). As some critics note, (Morison and McLeod 2013; Üstüner and Thompson 2015), her emphasis on the potential for ‘troubling’ gender has resulted in some gender scholars (including some consumer researchers, c.f. Goulding and Saren 2009; Schouten and McAlexander 1995) conflating performativity with a social performance approach. However, in subsequent works (Butler 1993; 1997; 2004), she differentiates performativity from the social performance of gender (Morison and McLeod 2013). In this thesis, Butler’s theory of performativity (1993; 1997; 2004) is used to understand how negotiating new gender identities can both reproduce and challenge gender norms.
There are some commonalities between the performative and social performance approaches to gender identity. Like West and Zimmerman (1987), Butler (1990:25) argues that gender identity is performed in everyday practices and is ‘always a doing’. She views all gender identity as performed or enacted (Butler 2004), and shares the view that gender identities are ‘culturally contingent’ (West and Zimmerman 1987), constructed differently across different
33 socio-historical, cultural and political contexts (Thompson and Üstüner 2015:238). However, unlike a social performance approach, she posits that individuals do not possess ‘a stable [gender] identity’ (Butler 1988:519). Instead, her approach has enabled consumer researchers to examine consumers’ multiple, overlapping identities (c.f. Hein and O’Donohoe 2014; Martin et al. 2006; see section 2.2.3). This study is also aligned to such a performative approach.
For Butler (1988:520), gender identity is ‘the stylised repetition of acts through time’. Although she recognises that gender identities are performed, the concept of performativity is not captured fully by the term ‘performance’, which implies ‘free play’ or ‘theatrical self- presentation’ (Butler 1993:95). A performative approach suggests that individuals are not simply ‘acting out’ different ways of being in the world (Borgerson 2005:68). Rather than viewing gender identity as ‘a voluntarist process of performance’, gender identity is a compulsory ‘reiteration of norms’ (McNay 1999b:176). Iteration is a key aspect of performativity: gender identities and norms are not static, but are continually reproduced (Schroeder and Borgerson 2004).
The performance of gender identities produces a ‘reiteration of previous doings’ that become ‘intelligible’ as gender norms (Thomson et al. 2011:55). This constant reiteration of gender identities and norms can produce gender identities that appear ‘natural’, while foreclosing others (Borgerson 2005:68). The persistence of dominant gender norms can mean that opportunities for negotiating new gender identities seem more ‘intelligible’ or ‘unthinkable’ than others (Borgerson 2005:65). A performative approach is used in this thesis to understand how South Asian women encounter gender norms that not only shaped their upbringing, but also shape their ongoing negotiation of their gender identities as mothers.
34 Since gender identity is iteratively performed, performativity also offers a means to theorise how individuals can negotiate new gender identities, which both challenge and reproduce gender norms. Since gender identities and norms must be continually reproduced, there is a ‘potential production of difference’ (Borgerson 2005:68). Individuals are compelled to reiterate gender, but performances are ‘imperfect’ and their meanings are unstable and open to interpretation (Morison and MacLeod 2013:569). While gender norms may appear fixed, their meanings change over time and context, and can be interpreted in different ways (Morison and McLeod 2013). New gender identities can be negotiated to the extent that gender norms are ‘entrenched but not unsurpassable boundaries’ (McNay 2013:32).
The process of negotiating new gender identities involves ‘questioning taken-for-granted assumptions’, which can offer opportunities for new practices to emerge (Nentwich et al. 2015). These identities are produced through ‘making changes in the repetitive performances’ of gender identity, which are both ‘radical and small’ (Nentwich et al. 2015:240). From a performative approach, these everyday negotiations of gender identity can slowly change gender norms (Connell and Pearse 2015; Morison and McLeod 2013; Nentwich et al. 2015:240).
Using a performative approach in this thesis enables us to move beyond the dichotomous views associated with social performance approaches, such as oppression and conformity vs. resistance and subversion (Beasley 2012; McNay 2013). Such an approach offers a means of examining how negotiating new gender identities can be a source for social change, while accounting for the persistence and embeddedness of gender norms (Thomson et al. 2011:51). Here, a performative approach is used to understand how ethnic minority women negotiate new gender identities in subtle ways that both draw on and challenge gender norms. In particular, South Asian women’s everyday mothering and consumption practices are seen as
35 key sites for negotiating new gender identities as well as reproducing and challenging gender norms.
Yet there are some aspects of negotiating new gender identities that performativity does not adequately address. Critics have noted that Butler’s (1993; 1997) later accounts of performativity depict an increasingly negative account of resistance to dominant gender norms (Magnus 2006; McNay 1999b; Thompson and Üstüner 2015). Magnus (2006) and McNay (1999a) suggest that the concept of performativity lacks an adequate explanation of the extent to which in some contexts individuals can develop the ability to create new meanings and perform gender differently. This critique is significant, since performativity (alone) may not explain how South Asian women develop the ability to question gender norms and ways of negotiating new gender identities. A performative approach also limits our understanding of whether and how some South Asian women may be better positioned than others to negotiate new gender identities and challenge gender norms. This thesis therefore aligns itself with those gender scholars who draw on, yet extend, a performative approach, by incorporating sociological concepts including habitus5, field6, capital7 and reflexivity8 (McNay 1999a; McLeod 2005; Thompson and Üstüner 2015). These concepts
5 In this thesis, the concept of habitus is used to refer to a set of assumptions, habits, taken for granted ideas
and ways of being, with which individuals engage, understand and move through the world (Bourdieu 1997). Section 2.5.1 elaborates further on this concept and how it informs the theoretical approach taken in this study.
6 The concept of field denotes the social space in which habitus operates (McNay 1999a). Society is comprised
of various overlapping fields (Adkins 2003), and individuals compete for resources to improve their position within the field (Holt 1997). See section 2.5.2 for further discussion of how this concept informs the thesis.
7 Bourdieu’s concept of capital is used to understand the different resources that are available within/across
fields, and the ways in which they can be used/converted to enhance one’s position within a field (Erel 2010; Franceschelli and O’Brien 2014). See section 2.5.4 for further discussion of the different forms of capital and how they are relevant for this thesis.
8 The concept of reflexivity is used in this thesis in relation to identity and refers to ‘the act of an individual
36 (discussed in section 2.5) offer a means of understanding how individuals may reflexively negotiate new gender identities and challenge gender norms to different extents.
Section 2.2.3 positions the thesis in relation to existing consumer research that examines how consumers negotiate new gender identities and change gender norms.