Analyzing the articulation or re-articulation processes of discourse between social forces, especially concerning the representation of ethnic identity, is necessary if one wishes to pursue further theoretical development in ethnic studies. In many studies of ethnic groups, a systematic view of minority representation and its correlation with neo-conservatism are overlooked due to a convergence with actual racist experiences of minorities.
According to Stuart Hall, mass media is an arena in which different social forces struggle over meaning. Researchers who consider mass media discourse formation as a process in which the power of discourse is excised and signification occurs by transforming the way identities are represented and connected, differ from others who simply address the disparity of power between actors by describing how the privileged "sujet de l'énonciation" creates the authorized field of conversation.
By examining the process of discourse formation, we will be able to see identity as generated in a form that is always connected to representation, i.e., the "subjected self." Because identity is a suture point of discourse practice, inviting specific discourse on the socialized subject and the process of constructing the self (Hall 1996: 5; 2001: 15), it is not inevitable articulation, as unification is sustained under certain circumstances. Hall, a leader of the theory of Cultural Studies, pioneered the study of mass communication through a neo-Marxist lens and set his focus on this articulation process. His study questioned why and how some specific articulations are accepted as unswerving, whereas others are not. Today, the articulation of identity cannot be separated from its representation in mass media.
This study discusses the necessity to have an approach of Cultural studies, which examines the problem of identity in inter-discursive manner. Confronting the question of the relative power and distribution of different regimes of truth may lead to the question of representation of identity. Representation of identity changes through the process of articulation, by socially and with intervention of the media, identities acquiring a different signification. This is what Stuart Hall called "the ideological effect" which maintains power in the social order.
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