ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the question in the light of the various practices and ideologies. It draws on the work of writers who have theorized identity from rather different, but often mutually illuminating, disciplinary perspectives. Judith Butler's ideas become attractive to the study of musical activities as a respite from a prevailing if under-acknowledged logocentrism. It is probably as well to start off by outlining the ways in which Butler's ideas are not directly relevant to an understanding of the British barbershop identity. Barbershop organizations are hegemonic mechanisms for the production of barbershoppers. The interconnected categories of gender, sex and sexuality – Butler's primary areas of interest – are foundational categories of identity in ways that barbershop clearly is not. Butler is a philosopher and cultural theorist who has made significant contributions to theories of identity by unpicking the relationships between gender, sex and desire.
