[Xmca-l] Re: identity expressed or formed by action?

[Andy Blunden]

That sounds good, Stephen, but I don't see any "drive to 
express identity" in there. I do think there is a drive to 
form and preserve social bonds, but this is not the 
*expression* of affiliative identity; perhaps the source of 
"affiliative identity," and the objective basis for an 
imposed identity (as opposed to a self-identity), but not 
something created by a desire or drive to express a 
pre-existing identity.

Yes?

Andy

------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Blunden
http://home.mira.net/~andy
http://www.brill.com/products/book/origins-collective-decision-making 

On 15/02/2017 9:36 PM, Stephen Walsh wrote:
> Hi Andy,
> I think that the answer is both.  I think we need to think 
> of identities as heterogeneous rather than homogeneous. 
> Looking at identity (dis)continuity following brain injury 
> is instructive. Research we have conducted with brain 
> injury survivors taking part in post acute community 
> neurorehabilitiation shows that identities deriving from 
> the groups we belong to (affiliative identities; e.g. 
> familiy) generate social support which facilitates the 
> formation of 'self as doer' identities (e.g. painter, 
> walker etc etc).
> Best Regards,
> Stephen
>
> On Wed, Feb 15, 2017 at 7:30 AM, Andy Blunden 
> <ablunden@mira.net <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>> wrote:
>
>     I would be interested in any helpful comments (other
>     than suggestions for more books to read) from my xmca
>     psychologist friends on this problem.
>
>     In discussion with a friend, who is very au fait with
>     contemporary social philosophy, but knows nothing of
>     CHAT, suggested to me a number of ideas intended to be
>     explanatory (rather than descriptive) of current
>     social and political trends. He talks about the rise
>     of "expressive authenticity" since the 1970s and
>     "collective action as a means to express selfhood." In
>     response, I questioned whether there is any such thing
>     as a drive to *express* one's identity, and that
>     rather, collective action (and there is fundamentally
>     no other kind of action) in pursuit of needs of all
>     kinds (spiritual, social and material) is *formative*
>     of identity.
>
>     A classic case for analysis is the well-known
>     observation that nowadays people purchase (clothes,
>     cars, food, ...) as a means of expressing their
>     identity. I question this, because it presumes that
>     there is the innate drive to express one's identity,
>     which I see no evidence for. I think people adopt
>     dress styles in much the same way that people carry
>     flags - to promote a movement they think positive and
>     to gain social acceptance in it. Identity-formation is
>     a *result* not a cause of this.
>
>     So, am I wrong? Is identity formation a result or a
>     cause of activity?
>
>     Andy
>
>
>     -- 
>     ------------------------------------------------------------
>     Andy Blunden
>     http://home.mira.net/~andy <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy>
>     http://www.brill.com/products/book/origins-collective-decision-making
>     <http://www.brill.com/products/book/origins-collective-decision-making>
>
>
>