Philippine E-Journals

Liminality and Identity Formation at the Pinoy Big Brother House

Peter G. Romerosa

Discipline: Psychology

 

Abstract:

Resting on the notion that identity is a product of social constitution, this paper intended to offer a critical analysis on how the concepts of liminality and surveillance constitute identity formation as a cultural and media product. The deployment of eth-nography allowed the researcher to investigate the transcripts, narratives, forms of nego-tiation and the dynamics of power relations between the structures and agency and among housemates themselves. Investigation illuminates that the route towards celebri-fication resonates the embodiment of social structures and practices where the subject explicitly and implicitly erode unhelpful traits not needed for a socially acceptable iden-tity and on the other hand, constructs desirable traits in order to create a new social status for public consumption.