I'm currently reading The Ethics of Identity by Kwame Anthony Appiah. I was first introduced to Appiah, I think, by Prof. Movindry Reddy of Occidental College. The book was published in 2005. Appiah is professor at Princeton and is a leading thinker in the identity arena.
One of the notions that sticks out is the idea of identification and identity. "Once labels are applied to people," Appiah writes, "ideas about people who fit the label come to have social and psychological effects. In particular, these ideas shape the ways people conceive of themselves and their projects" (Appiah, 66).
In support of this notion, or rather, to introduce it, Appiah mentions the Robbers Cave experiment of 1953, where two groups of young boys were taken to a camp in the Sans Bois Mountains of Oklahoma. The boys were from a generally homogenous white background and were settled in separate camps in the deep woods. Once each group of boys had set up camp, they were told of the presence of the opposing settlement. In a rather Lord of the Flies style, they competed against each other in a variety of physical battles including baseball and tug-of-war. In a matter of four days, each camp (on their own!) developed an identity: one named themselves the Rattlers and the other the Eagles. The Rattlers, fittingly were the tough ones (swearing, fighting...the whole 'tough guy' bit) while the Eagles maintained a stoic, gentlemanly air.
The really interesting part: "The groups did not arrive with these names; nor did it occur to group members that they needed a name, until they learned about the presence of another group on the campgrounds" (Appiah, 63).
Somehow, within the span of four days, these kids--out of thin air--developed distinct identities. So here's the link-up to the ad world. Appiah goes on to discuss the fact that collective social identities have a structure, requiring the following:
- Publicly available and mutually understandable terms to describe the group (collective labeling)
- Acceptance and internalization of the labels as factors of individual identity (collective acceptance)
- Universally accepted patterns of behavior toward the group (collective action) (Appiah, 66-69)
Social networking services are making identities increasingly manipulable by companies. Sure, society and politics (generally) always had the ability to mold identities. But now we as marketers have the capacity to create, define and cultivate collective identities for profit. We can contribute to the definition of social niches by helping them define themselves against the Other, or by offering them tools to enrich their lives. Understanding of this capability, in fact, has been the foundation of some of the greatest marketing campaigns of all time. In my mind, this is one of the most powerful and potentially dangerous capabilities presented by our business.
This doesn't mean that we shouldn't use this power, but we must be cognizant of the affect we have on social identity.