Page 127 - Cultural Change and Ordinary Life

118 Cultural change and ordinary life

My suggestion is that all these aspects of identity have been and are being
affected by cultural and social changes, not least those connected to the
media. However, this happens in different ways and to varying extents. Thus,
while the literature on fandom and media audiencing in the more narrowly
conceived sense prompts a number of further understandings, it has
limitations.
In the sense that audiencing and performing have changed and diffused,
then so too has the self. One way of thinking this is to argue that the diffused
self has actually grown to incorporate a greater range of dimensions. This
is where the idea of extension of the self is particularly resonant. However,
the tendency in such work is to conceive this extension in relation to one
main cultural form or experience, be it football, Batman or Elvis Presley, for
example. The transitional objects are connected to one of these experiences.
However, it can be argued that there is actually a multiplicity of such experi-
ences and forms that are diffusing the self. People have a range of social and
cultural activities that they engage with and I suggest that this range is grow-
ing as facilitated by consumer experiences. This may mean people moving in
and out of activities with some rapidity (see Chapter 7) or becoming more
omnivoric (see Chapter 8). It also means that while they become part of the
constitution of the diffused self, they are differentially important as part of it.
Moreover, enthusiasm for children or parents may be much more significant
than that for Elvis Presley, but there are a number of features that such
enthusiasms have in common, especially as they have been theorized during
the course of this book.
The audience continuum that has been reiterated in this chapter there-
fore remains of significance in thinking through the different audience posi-
tions, within the diffused audience, but also allows consideration of the
investment of the self in different activities. This is not simply an abstract
typology, but as has been argued is also the basis for a career and levels of
personal investment (Crawford 2003, 2004). Hills’ (2002) idea of autoethnog-
raphy captures aspects of one way in which these processes can be considered.
The life biography of individuals needs discussion in the context of media-
related shifts, but also with respect to a range of other social and cultural
changes (Gauntlett and Hill 1999). This sort of method is not simply to be used
on the writing subject or more narrowly in a media context. When generalized,
it can be an important aspect of how the enthusing and diffused self can be
studied in the context of the diffused audience of ordinary life.