Fields of Tension in a Boundary-Crossing World

Towards a Democratic Organization of the Self

Bibliographic Data

ID6071671
AuthorsHubert Hermans (0000-0002-8387-0671, Radboud University Nijmegen, corresponding author), Hubert J M Hermans, Agnieszka Konopka, Annerieke Oosterwegel (Utrecht University), Peter Zomer
Year2017
Volume51
Issue4
Pages505-535
Publication date2017-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIntegrative Psychological and Behavioral Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1932-4502 • E-ISSN: 1936-3567
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s12124-016-9370-6
PMID27943072
OpenAlexW2560392517
LanguageEN
Citations received29
References cited74

In their study of the relationship between self and society, scientists have proposed taking society as a metaphor for understanding the dynamics of the self, such as the analogy between the self and the functioning of a totalitarian state or the analogy between the self and the functioning of a bureaucratic organization. In addition to these models, the present article proposes a democratic society as a metaphor for understanding the workings of a dialogical self in a globalizing, boundary-crossing world. The article follows four steps. In the first step the self is depicted as extended to the social and societal environment and made up of fields of tension in which a multiplicity of self-positions are involved in processes of positioning and counter-positioning and in relationships of social power. In the second step, the fertility of the democratic metaphor is demonstrated by referring to theory and research from three identity perspectives: multicultural, multiracial, and transgender. In the fields of tension emerging between the multiplicity of self-positions, new, hybrid, and mixed identities have a chance to emerge as adaptive responses to the limitations of existing societal structures. In the third step, we place the democratic self in a broader societal context by linking three levels of inclusiveness, proposed by Self-Categorization Theory (personal, social, and human) to recent conceptions of a cosmopolitan democracy. In the fourth and final step, a model is presented which allows the formulation of a series of specific research questions for future studies of a democratically organized self

Analogy · Democracy · Dialogical self · Epistemology · Metaphor · Political science · Politics · Self · Sociology · Cultural Differences and Values · Law · Religion and Society Interactions · Social Representations and Identity

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Open DOISci-HubOpen Access