[Xmca-l] Re: identity expressed or formed by action?
Andy Blunden
ablunden@mira.net
Wed Feb 15 02:49:44 PST 2017
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>
>
>
>
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