cliques

Francoise Herrmann (fherrmann who-is-at igc.apc.org)
Wed, 1 May 1996 07:47:34 -0700 (PDT)

Hi Jay, It is quite possible that youth form cliques in reaction to
adult exclsusionary practices. The book about Jocks and Burnouts perhaps
corroborates your insights. But could it also be possible that youth
form cliques as part of their own development process, out of desire to
find a world different from the adult one in which they have been socialized,
or as instantiation of their own likes and dislikes (desire), or in choosing
those values and nomrs that will have evolutionary weight. Bill Penuel and
Jim Wertsch have written about identity formation in action and drawing
on Erikson, one of the arguments they make is that much of identity
formation involves resisting, but resistence as an affirmation of desire,
rather than as reaction, as I understood it.

Francoise
Francoise Herrmann
fherrmann who-is-at igc.org