Monday, February 4, 2008

Week 4 - Barker, Chapter 8

The concept of identity seems central in the western world nowadays.In this chapter, Barker develops the concept of identify, what defines it and what is it made of. The concept of identity has shifted from the idea of an individual core self, specific to every person to the idea of fragmented identities: everyone has several identities defined by their social context and personal history.
As such, every behavior is determined by social and cultural background, and even agency (the capacity of change or evolution) is limited by this background.

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