The Porosity of Identity Boundaries

Abstract

The question of cultural identity is an important issue of debate in contemporary societies all around the world, and even more so in Great Britain, given the profound changes in the constitution of British society over recent decades. Stuart Hall argues that a sense of identity entails demarcations of inclusion and exclusion: ‘identities can function as points of identification and attachment only because of their capacity to exclude, to render “outside”, abjected’ (1997: 5; italics in original).