Social relationships are only becoming more prominent as technology continues to grow to allow these relationships to flourish. Technology now allows us to communicate face to face on our cell phones and we can comment on pictures of friends we knew in middle school. Relationships are no longer confounded by people we have actually met. We create relationships with characters on scripted television shows and reality show characters. We can watch them live on television or online. We can even engage in discussion about these people on blogs. These types of relationships are called parasocial relationships. An example of this type of relationship was apparent when actors Jennifer Anniston and Brad Pitt divorced. A variety of people choose either Team Anniston or Team Jolie. Viewers do not have a direct relationship with these individuals but maintained strong attitudes towards the divorce.
This relationship is an example of social identity. Social identity is built upon the groups an individual admires and identifies with. According to Severin and Tankard (2001) social identity does not operate all the time but rather is enacted in certain situations. Peer pressure and social norms can force us to create opinions which in turn develop our social identity through the diffusion of innovation. If an idea gains acceptance by the majority then an individual feels compelled to create an opinion to avoid conflict. This identity creation may not accurately reflect the individual.
Some good thoughts in here, tying in social identity to parasocial interaction. But I wonder, are you suggesting that we form parasocial interactions in order create/sustain/maintain a social identity? For example, walk us through this process in response to Rebecca Black's "Friday": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0
ReplyDeleteThe video - and by proxy Rebecca Black herself - is receiving universal panning from almost everyone; in short, it has be come "cool" to have the video. So if I want to be cool, perhaps I create an animosity-based parasocial interaction with Black herself (i.e., calling her fat, ugly, slutty, etc.).
Interested to hear more about your thoughts relating social identity to parasocial interaction, especially in the age of reality television where we are almost forced at the societal level to form an opinion about "fictitious" people.
Quick thoughts anyways...