Definitions...

Identity-
The set of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group. (The free dictionary.)
The condition of being oneself or itself, and not another: He doubted his own identity. (Dictionary.com)
The characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is:
he wanted to develop a more distinctive Scottish Tory identity (Oxford Dictionaries.)
Example: Breakwell (1978) studied teenage soccer fans, some of whom went to most games, whilst others did not go to games. Those who did not go to games were the most vehement about their loyalty and showed most in-group bias, presumably as they had a greater need to prove themselves as fans.

Collective Identity-
A collective identity refers to individuals' sense of belonging (the identity) to a group (the collective). From the perspective of the individual, the collective identity forms a part of his or her personal identity...
(web definitions)
The term collective identity may refer to a variety of concepts. In general however, these concepts generally pertain to phenomena where an individuals' perceived membership in a social group impacts upon their own identity in some way. The idea of a collective identity has received attention in a wide variety of academic fields. In psychology, and in particular social psychology, this has led to a vast research literature and concerted scientific study. Most archetypal perhaps being Henri Tajfel’s and John Turner's work in developing social identity theory (Wikipedia.)
"If the hippies cut off all their hair, I don't care"- Jimi Hendrix
Mediation-
in cultural theory, the process by which texts and media products are analysed through an intermediary ‘structure’, e.g. conventions of genre,form of production (media dictionary.com)
The central problem for any media theorist, similar to the problem of a Marxist theorist, is to attempt to analyze what is possible and what is limited by a given medium. (Wikipedia)
Every time we encounter a media text, we are not seeing reality, but someone's version of it. This may seem obvious point, but it is something easily forgotten when we get caught up in a text. For example if you see a picture of a celebrity kissing her boyfriend, you may find it unsurprising that the picture can be altered and does not show the reality of the situation. The media place us at one remove away from reality: they take something that is real, a person, or event they change its form to produce whatever text we end up with. 


Representation-
The description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way or as being of a certain nature (web definitions.)

Representation refers to the construction in any medium (especially the mass media) of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures. (http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/MC30820/represent.html)
'Marxist perspectives draw our attention to the issue of political and economic interests in the mass media and highlight social inequalities in media representations.'- Daniel Chandler 


1) 'In reflective approach,meaning is thought to lie in the object,person,idea or even in the real world.In this approach,language works by simply reflecting or imitating the truth that is already there and fixed in the world ,is sometimes called “mimetic”.
2) The second approach to meaning in the representation argues the oppsite case.
It holds that it is the speaker,the author,who impose his or her unique meaning on the world throuth language.Words mean what the auther intends they should mean.This is intentional approach.
3) The third approach recognises this public,social character of language.It acknowledges that neither things in themselves nor the individual users of language can fix meaning in language.Thing don’t mean:we construct meaning ,using representational systems _concepts and signs.Hence it is callaed the constructivist or constructionist approach to meaning in language.' (Ali Hajemohamady.)
Examples: Teenagers being represented as 'hoodies.' Men being represented as the dominant sex etc...



For example women are represented as the dominant sex in this video through by Beyonce being positioned on a horse which connotes authority, by the women being placed with a lion and as lions are seen as the dominant animals, this too connotes that Beyonce and her 'army' of women are dominant.

Hegemony- 
The predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or others. (Free online dictionary.)


In media studies, hegemony refers to the ways in which the media encourage people to consent to status quo power structures. Hegemony seems like a tough concept to grasp at first, but it's actually pretty straightword. Here's what you need to know about hegemony.

Antonio Gramsci & Marxism

Hegemony, a term that came from the writings of Karl Marx, was conceptualized by Antonio Gramsci, a Marxist social philosopher who lived in Mussolini's Italy. Because Gramsci was a Marxist, he subscribed to the basic Marxist premise of the historical dialectic. This means that, according to classic Marxist theories, societies must transform over time from oppressive economic systems to more and more liberating ones, until society finally reaches the Utopian state of communism.

Marx believed that capitalism was an oppressive economic system because of the unequal distribution of the wealth among a few powerful people, and he believed that eventually, the masses would overthrow capitalism and move to a less oppressive system. According to the historical dialectic, the masses will overthrow oppressive economic systems.

'The abolition of the class struggle does not mean the abolition of the need to struggle as a principle of development.'-Gramsci, Antonio, Selections from cultural writings. London (Lawrence & Wishart) 1985, 42


Colonialism-The policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically. (Web Definitions.)


Relating to, possessing, or inhabiting a colony or colonies.Or relating to the 13 British colonies that became the original United States of America. (The Free Dictionary.)


A policy by which a nation maintains or extends its control over foreign dependencies. (Answers.com)


The acquisition and colonization by a nation of other territories and their peoples (Oxford Dictionary of Geography.)


The policy and practice of a strong power extending its control territorially over a weaker nation or people. (Oxford Dictionary of Politics.)


Post-Colonialism-
Postcolonialism (postcolonial theory, post-colonial theory) is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that consists of reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism. (Wikipedia) 



An era or attitude relating to the period after the settlement of one country by another, or very broadly, after the 1960s, when many colonised countries gained their independence. (Wiktinory)


The term postcolonialism may refer to what happens after colonialism, ie after a state has gained independence from a foreign power. (courses.nus.edu.sg/course/ellibst/lsl01-tm.html)


A cultural, intellectual, political, and literary movement of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries characterized by the representation and analysis of the historical experiences and subjectivities of the victims, individuals and nations, of colonial power. (fajardo-acosta.com/worldlit/glossary.htm)


Imperial-
A policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force (Google Dictionary)

• A policy of extending your rule over foreign countries (wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)
• A political orientation that advocates imperial interests (wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)
• Any instance of aggressive extension of authority (wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)

Imperialism, defined by The Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination. (Wikipedia.)

Youth Subculture- 

A minority youth culture whose distinctiveness depended largely on the social class and ethnic background of its members; often characterized by its adoption of a particular music genre. (The Free Dictionary.)

A youth subculture is a youth-based subculture with distinct styles, behaviors, and interests. Youth subcultures offer participants an identity outside of that ascribed by social institutions such as family,work, home and school. (Wikipedia.)

Youth subculture is relevant to the term 'collective identity' as the concept of 'youth subculture' allows people to create their own identity, away from the identity that is already associated with them due to their gender or age etc... 

Syncretism-

• The union (or attempted fusion) of different systems of thought or belief (especially in religion or philosophy); "a syncretism of material and immaterial theories" The fusion of originally different inflected forms (resulting in a reduction in the use of inflections) wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

The attempt to reconcile disparate or contrary beliefs. (Wikipedia.)

Syncretism is the interworking of two or more cultural perspectives into one system. (http://www.google.co.uk/url?url=http://www.kheper.net/topics/Gnosticism/glossary.html&rct=j&sa=X&ei=NYYLTo-DD8iChQfP9HE&ved=0CEAQngkwAQ&q=syncretism&usg=AFQjCNHnTL-j2QspWtyJZrb_8thweCybBA)

Post- Modernism-

A currently popular (I hesitate to say fashionable although intellectuals do have fashions) intellectual concept. It is used as a way of grouping and describing the styles of thought and culture attracting most critical attention during the final few decades of the twentieth century. It is sometimes affectionately referred to as 'pomo' by people with beards. 'Postmodernist thought' has caused a revolution across all academic disciplines, from Physics to English via Geography. Postmodernism offers a different way of both constructing and deconstructing ideas. (AS & A2 Media Studies.)

Postmodernism is a movement away from the viewpoint of modernism. More specifically it is a tendency in contemporary culture characterized by the problem of objective truth and inherent suspicion towards global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. (Wikipedia.)

Urban Music-

Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. (Wikipedia.)

Musical genre of the 1980s and ’90s defined by recordings by rhythm-and-blues or soul artists with broad crossover appeal. Urban contemporary began as an American radio format designed to appeal to advertisers who felt that “black radio” would not reach a wide enough audience. (Britainia)

 

Hegemony was a concept previously used by Marxists such as Vladimir Ilyich Lenin to indicate the political leadership of the working-class in a democratic revolution, but developed by Gramsci into an acute analysis to explain why the 'inevitable' socialist revolution predicted by orthodox Marxism had not occurred by the early 20th century. Capitalism, it seemed, was even more entrenched than ever. Capitalism, Gramsci suggested, maintained control not just through violence and political and economic coercion, but also ideologically, through a hegemonic culture in which the values of the bourgeoisie became the 'common sense' values of all. Thus a consensus culture developed in which people in the working-class identified their own good with the good of the bourgeoisie, and helped to maintain the status quo rather than revolting.

The working class needed to develop a culture of its own, which would overthrow the notion that bourgeois values represented 'natural' or 'normal' values for society, and would attract the oppressed and intellectual classes to the cause of the proletariat. Lenin held that culture was 'ancillary' to political objectives but for Gramsci it was fundamental to the attainment of power that cultural hegemony be achieved first. In Gramsci's view, any class that wishes to dominate in modern conditions has to move beyond its own narrow ‘economic-corporate’ interests, to exert intellectual and moral leadership, and to make alliances and compromises with a variety of forces. Gramsci calls this union of social forces a ‘historic bloc’, taking a term from Georges Sorel. This bloc forms the basis of consent to a certain social order, which produces and re-produces the hegemony of the dominant class through a nexus of institutions, social relations and ideas. In this manner, Gramsci developed a theory that emphasized the importance of the superstructure in both maintaining and fracturing relations of the base.

Gramsci stated that, in the West, bourgeois cultural values were tied to religion, and therefore much of his analysis of hegemonic culture is aimed at religious norms and values. He was impressed by the influence Roman Catholicism had and the care the Church had taken to prevent an excessive gap developing between the religion of the learned and that of the less educated. Gramsci believed that it was Marxism's task to marry the purely intellectual critique of religion found in Renaissance humanismto the elements of the Reformation that had appealed to the masses. For Gramsci, Marxism could supersede religion only if it met people's spiritual needs, and to do so people would have to think of it as an expression of their own experience.

For Gramsci, hegemonic dominance ultimately relied on a "consented" coercion, and in a "crisis of authority" the "masks of consent" slip away, revealing the fist of force.