Puno: Población Económicamente Activa (PEA)

It is relatively widely accepted that, although still partially effective - for example, politically and economically - the pre-eminence of the logic of identity as the structuring feature of society has been shattered by the increasing cultural fragmentation (Featherstone, 1995) of the world. This fragmentation is what Marcus (1992: 311) refers to as "global creolization processes". Increasingly, 'micro-structurings' of shared sentiments, experiences and emotions appear to be playing a more important part in people's everyday experiences, particularly in relation to the social groupings and affiliations through which individuals constitute themselves (Maffesoli, 1995).

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Stuart Hall (1991: 44) describes these historical transformations which have disturbed the "settled logic of identity" as "theoretical decentrings", giving examples such as the instability o f the nation-state, the changing fortunes o f nation's economies, and the consequent challenges to notions o f nationhood and national identity as well as to the "fragmentation and erosion of collective social identity". By the latter. Hall means the "large-scale, all-encompassing, homogenous [...] great collective social identities o f class, of race, of nation, o f gender, and o f the W est" (ibid: 44), Although, as Hall contends, these great collective social identities have not disappeared altogether, their disrupted location w ithin our conceptions o f the w orld suggests that they cannot be thought of in the "same homogenous form " (ibid: 45). In short, these ascribed collective identities "do not give us the code o f identity as [...] they did in the past" (ibid: 45-46)^. New formations o f

identities and identifications have taken their place, new formations which prom pt Hall into making a number o f crucial points about the changing nature and role o f identities in contemporary society. Firstly, Hall suggests, it is clear from the "new theoretical spaces" that are opened up by these changes that identities are never completed, never finished - "identity is always in the process o f form ation" (ibid: 47) and our sense of identity "can never be resolved" (Chambers, 1994: 25). Second, identity "means, or connotes, the process o f identification, o f saying that this here is the same as that, or we are the same together" (ibid: 47; emphasis added). Thirdly, this notion o f identification is always constructed through ambivalence; that is, it is always constructed in terms o f belongings and outsiders (Chambers, 1994), between "those w ho belong and those who do not" (Hall, 1991: 48).

O n a more everyday, experiential level, the notion o f identifications which Hall presents here highlights the empathy that we can - though do not all, nor always - feel w ith others when we are in a group situation (Maffesoli, 1995; Hall, 1991; 1992). The process of Identification is one in which "people come to feel that some other human beings are much 'the same' as they are and still others are more 'unlike' them " (de Swaan, 1995: 25). Certain social situations, and I suggest that clubbing is one of these social situations, foster a going-beyond o f individual identities, an experience of being both within yet in some way outside of oneself at once: in extreme circumstances this experience of ambivalence through identification can be referred to as a sensation o f ecstasy or exstasis^.

It is a m oot p oint as to whether these great collective social identities ever gave us the code of identity in any case - this may be just w hat we told ourselves about ourselves (Hall, 1991 ).

The term ecstasy derives from the Greek term, ekstasis: a displacement, a trance, a going beyond. Thanks to Antonia Noussia for first drawing this to my attention. I discuss these vital points about the

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Furthermore, while proximity to others is not a necessary condition for these identifications, physical co-presence is often actively sought in the establishment o f

identifications. This is a search for togetherness that Boden & M oltoch (1994: 258) refer to as "the compulsion of proximity".

BEN: How does clubbing fit into your overall lifestyle at the moment?

LUKE: I hate to admit it, but dubbin’ gives you sort of an identity. You belong to a relative small group of people, with very different interests and skills, but there is something that connects you. I like being in a city because it’ s quite anonymous, but it feels very good to find steady points in the city. Clubbin’ makes me feel at home in a city, ‘cause you meet lots of people. First in the club, and later you’ll meet them in the streets occasionally. I ’ve been in other scenes for a short time as well (a bit of skate and grunge), but I always got bored with them. House seems to be the only thing that comes back. Maybe it’s very easy to get in. Comparing to my

‘adventures’ in other scenes, it seems to be very easy to get into a club-scene. In shorter time and with less effort, I meet more people there. I don’t know whether that says something about the scene of more about myself. I ’ll think about it... (It just popped up, you know... ;-)

W hile he "hates to admit it", Luke does see clubbing as providing him with "an identity" - "you belong to a relative small group of people, with very different interests and skills, but there is something that connects you". This is a great evocation of the notion of identification. Luke then builds on this evocation by expressly linking it to his experiences both of living in the city generally - clubbing makes him feel "at home" in the city - and to his own history of other "scenes" such as "skate and grunge".

Identifications, then, might be understood as elective forms o f identity (Scheler, 1954); they are "the rendering to someone o f identity" (Friedman, 1992: 332). Identifications are affectual in nature, usually small in scale, and might be premised upon an affiliation with a

flux between self and crowd in more detail in later Chapters. For the moment, it is interesting to note in terms of the current discussion about belongings and identifications that the drug ecstasy - also known as M D M A , it's chemical abbreviation - was originally labelled 'empathy'. The 'brand name' was only changed to 'ecstasy' because it was thought that it w ould sell better (Collin, 1997).

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charismatic leader, a totem ic or tribal symbol or (and) a shared emotional experience - for example, a shared appreciation of music - and a shared site (Hetherlngton, 1996)^^.

The Importance o f tactlllty and proxim ity - In short, o f a sharing o f a bounded space - to most Identifications restricts their size - relative to slightly less tight concepts and notions o f 'lifestyles' - to a smaller scale, and this usually means a heightened prominence for the practices o f face-to-face Interaction (Chaney, 1996; de Swaan, 1995). Through

participation within an Identification, Individuals may define themselves according to the others w ho they also see as constituting that Identification. Identifications can. In this sense, be constructed as virtual 'mirrors o f Identity' - you see what you are or w ant to think you are (Coffman, 1963).

Identifications do not replace Identities, for an Identification, once established, "does not obliterate difference" (Hall 1996: 3). Identity retains a powerful significance. W hat Is being proposed Is that at certain times and In certain places aspects o f our Identity - or elements that constitute it - are submerged beneath a usually transitory feeling o f social Identification. In these situations, notions which are central to our personal biographies - our understandings o f our own and others' gender, ethnicity, social class - can become temporarily eclipsed by what It is that we share with those with whom we are co-present. First and foremost this Is usually our occupation of (a) space. M ore Important than what divides or what distinguishes us as Individuals Is what unites us or what we share, even If this Is only the space and tim e which we temporarily co-lnhablt. The submerged aspects of our Identity - our personal biographies - may still be resonant, yet In a muted, almost subconscious fashion. This construction o f Identifications thus challenges the predom inant sociological focus upon the individual w ithout dismissing It. The contexts and forms of our focused group or social Interactions become central to our sense o f our selves (Coffman, 1959). In contradistinction to some notions of self-ldentlty then. In which Increasing Informalisation and Individualisation of consumption practices are deemed to produce a weakening uniformity o f consumption choices and experiences, and In which the constant amendment o f the self Is achieved through a "parading o f Its 'Ide ntity'" (Warde, 1994a: 882), Identifications cast the practices o f consuming as being both generated by, yet also contributing toward, the sharing o f styles, of spaces and even o f emotions and sentiments.

In these respects identifications have been likened to Bünde,or com m union - a notion first developed by the German sociologist Herman Schmalenbach in the 1920s (see Hetherington, 1994; 1996).

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Sun and Luke's stories about their desires for a sense of belonging and identification through clubbing are examples of the shared emotional understandings which clubbing can provide. An understanding of the practical constitution of these identifications is deepened in the following stages of the Night Out. However, establishing these identifications is about much more than merely displaying the correct clothing or demonstrating a knowledge of the musical forms involved in a clubbing genre. Issues o f distinction and stylisation are more complex than this, and it is to these practices of being 'co o l' and demonstrating 'style' that I now turn.