How do young people form their 'collective identity' through reality tv?

Use Michel Foucault thoery
'togetherness'
Collective identity: the individfual sense of belonging to a group (part of personal identity)
representation: the way reality is 'mediated' or 're-presented' to us.
self-construction by others of the media (what we watch/see helps us to make an image of myself)

Young people form the biggest part of their identity through the period of adolescence because this when they make the transition from childhood to adulthood and are still finding out who 'they are'. The media and those around us help us to form an identity which transforms to a collective identity (the individual sense of belonging to a group). This can be done in various ways, for example through music, having the same taste in fashion and clothing, or the one which will be focussed on; reality tv.
There are many popular and current reality tv shows that have a form of collective identity of young people such as 'The Only Way Is Essex', 'Geordie Shore' and 'Made in Chelsea.'

Made In Chelsea is a British reality TV show set in a wealthy area, Chelsea. It shows young people who are connected in a way of wealth which brings them together to form a collective identity. They live in highly materialistic lifestyles 'where the gossip is as startling as the prices.' Their clothing is designer and are dominated by their values of money. Collectively, the aristocrats are related in a similar way to one another as they share the same interests and lifestyles as each other. Michel Foucault's theory states that we are born with a basic construction of identity, which can be mediated through various influences. This is proven to be true, as in this case, these young people have been born and raised in a wealthy area so they know no better as to what life is like without the glits and glamour. However he believes that our identity can also be limited as a stereotypical view is portrayed by 'outsiders' looking in, therefore assuming wrongly about who we are and the identity that we hold. This can also be interlinked with Henri Tajfel's theory as two groups are formed here, those that fit in ('in-group') and those that don't ('out-group') - both of these groups are a form of collective identity. The young people in Made In Chelsea try and break the stereotype by subverting through discorse, as in a few episodes the conversations held between one another can be considered to be more of a lower class slang as opposed to an upper class posh.

Furthermore, Geordie Shore is a tv series with a group of middle-classed young people who are partying occassionally and can be seen to have quite low self-esteem. This automatically categorises them as the 'wild' ones who love to socialise and get drunk. They have an obsession with asthetic appearance and care more about being attractive and popular rather than rich and famous. These two reality tv shows seem to be the antithesis of each other and demonstrates clearly how two different forms of collective identity can be depicted by what they do together and how they live their lives. Young people watching these shows may favour one over the other. This subconciously could be due to the fact that they relate to the young people witin the Tv Shows in some way or another. 

The Only Way is Essex (TOWIE) is a reality tv show filmed in Essex which shows "real people in modified situations, saying unscripted lines but in a structured way." The young people in it are concerned with their appearance and are portrayed to be quite rich. To some extent, it can be argued that TOWIE represents a perfect mix of the two reality TV shows discussed before.

In conclusion, it is evident that the way media portrays people, their lifestyles and hobbies, others will also be able to relate, creating these collective identities. The way in which the three reality tv shows discussed, shows lifestyles of three completely different types of groups, classes and lifestyles but of all similar ages (young people) conforms to the fact that young people are still making the transition to finding their true identity. From what they see around them, and how much they adapt to other forms of identity throughout their adolescence through the people they meet, forms a collective identity.