When identity loses it's "social anchors" (Bauman, 2004, p.24), that is to say the traditional ways of identifying oneself, such as gender, place of birth and class (to name a few), it is no longer preordained. For this reason, individuals seek new groups to which they can experience a sense of belonging and which thereby facilitate the creation of an identity. A personal example of this would be my participation in the Yorkshire Universities Naval Unit.
Nowadays, the aforementioned groups tend primarily to be Internet communities, which are both easy to enter and abandon. As a result, Clifford Stoll states that we are "losing the ability to enter into spontaneous interaction with real people", while Charles Handy claims they create "an illusion of intimacy...a pre tense of community...[and] are not a valid substitute for...real conversation" (Bauman, 2004, p.25). If anything, these "electronically mediated" (Bauman, 2004, p.25) societies, make it more difficult to come to terms with one's self than it need be.
Technology as a whole has seen the removal of moments of introspection and with the invention of the mobile phone we no longer have to interact with others in the street. In an era such as this, the unambiguous, "old-style stiff and non negotiable identities simply won't do" (Bauman, 2004, p25). The appetite for an identity is derived from the desire for security, which is an ambiguous feeling in itself. Therefore, in "our liquid modern times" (Bauman, 2004, p.29), that is to say where nothing is fixed and individuals can more or less mutate into anything they wish to, the "unencumbered individual is the popular hero" (Bauman, 2004, p.29).
Bibliography
Social Europe Journal . 2014. Archives for Zygmunt Bauman. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.social-europe.eu/author/zygmunt-bauman/. [Accessed 18 March 14].
Zygmunt Bauman, 2004. Identity: Coversations With Benedetto Vecchi. 1 Edition. Polity.
