The crisis of 'identity' in high modernity

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5609366
AutoresMervyn F Bendle
Año2002
Volumen53
Número1
Páginas1-18
Fecha de publicación2002-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00071310120109302
PMID11958676
OpenAlexW2028330063
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas60
Referencias citadas16

The concept of 'identity' is central to much contemporary sociology, reflecting a crisis that manifests itself in two ways. Firstly, there is a view that identity is both vital and problematic in this period of high modernity. Secondly, while this awareness is reflected in sociology, its accounts of identity are inconsistent, under-theorized and incapable of bearing the analytical load required. As a result, there is an inherent contradiction between a valuing of identity as so fundamental as to be crucial to personal well-being, and a theorization of 'identity' that sees it as something constructed, fluid, multiple, impermanent and fragmentary. The contemporary crisis of identity thus expresses itself as both a crisis of society, and a crisis of theory. This paper explores the diverse ways in which 'identity' is deployed before turning to case-studies of its use by Anthony Giddens and Manuel Castells. This strategy demonstrates the widespread and diverse concern with identity before exploring how problematic it has become, even in the work of two of the world's leading sociologists

Aesthetics · Contradiction · Epistemology · Face (sociological concept · Identity (music · Identity crisis · Identity formation · Late modernity · Modernity · Self-concept · Social group · Social identity approach · Social identity theory · Social science · Sociology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Cultural, Psychoanalytic, and Sociopolitical Reflections · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Philosophy