The theory of social Identity

The social identity theory was established in 1979 by Tajfel and Turner.
The theory explains how we identify ourselves in society. There are certain groups in society that people consider themselves to be in. For example I would consider myself in the teenage girl group, as well as many other groups. There is lots of groups that people use to identify themselves. Some of these include: age, race, gender, attractiveness, their personality, their likes and dislikes. Firstly people in society categorise people and then identify them. Then social identification will take place and we will adopt the identity of the group we have categorized our self as belonging to. Then social comparison where we compare that group with others.
The theory of social identity is very relevant to music and music magazines. What I have been considering is does social identity still apply? I don't think it does. In the past social identity was very important in the way people lived their lives. Two examples of groups I looked at where Hippies and Skinheads.
In the picture to the right is an example of hippies and skinheads. We can see in the picture the great impact that social identity had. Having the identity of being a skinhead meant that you dressed in a particular way: in this instance skinheads wear doctor martins, rolled up jeans and braces with a white shirt. Belonging to the skin head group also meant that you had a particular personality and you had to like and dislike things that everyone in the group liked and disliked. This would influence the music they liked and the magazines they bought. Similarly, the hippies. Hippies dressed in a very different way to skinheads and they had very different lifestyles. Hippies were most likely middle class because of how free their life was and how carefree they were. Like the skinheads the social identity of being a hippie meant that you had to be like everyone else in the group therefore being a hippie would influence the music you like and the magazines you read. In my opinion we live in a world where this is not the case anymore. The world today is a lot more diverse. People want to express themselves and make their own choices. Looking at the example of people who are in the group of liking pop music. You cannot tell from the way they dress or act, that they listen to pop music. Likewise, previously age was important in influencing your music taste and the clothes you wear. In this day and age, parents and their children like the same music and some parents share clothes with their children. I believe that this change in social identity is a good thing for society. By having more individuality and freedom  making your own choices, I feel it improves the way we live. I think people's lives are probably better doing things because they want to and not because someone else in their 'group' is.
Never the less, in my opinion this change in identity would not really have a good impact on the music magazine industry. Social identity is very significant for music magazines because the producers rely on readers of particular groups. For example an indie magazine relies on people who like indie music. If people don't have specific tastes in music, and if music is not as important in influencing the way people live, then it is likely that this will have an impact on music magazines.  This could explain why nowadays magazines are mostly online based. Magazines that have a niche target audience would definitely struggle considering the change in social identity. 
Overall, though I think it is positive that people don't categorise themselves so specifically anymore but this does cause problems for music magazines. This is something I will have to consider, when thinking about my magazine's target audience.