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Inaword,bothErikson’spsychologicalandMead’ssocioculturalap-
proachtoidentityformationareviewedasclassictheoriesinwhichidentity
isunderstoodassingularandstable.Althoughfeedbackfromothersisac-
knowledgedinthem,thisisinterpretedsubjectively,leavingtheself-concept
Hindividuallydistinct”(Davey,2013,p.25).Eriksonpointstoidentityrelated
tosocialmacrostructures,whereasthekeyfeatureinMead’sunderstanding
areinteractionsinsmallgroupsandtheresultantsituationalidentity.Both
representessentialistmodelsofidentity,basedonthenotionthatbiological
andpsychosocialmaturitydeterminesthequalityofinteractionwhichpeo-
plehavewiththeirenvironments.
1.1.2PoststructuralistConceptsofIdentity
PoststructuralistconstructsofidentityhavemoreHanthropological”inclina-
tionsthantheessentialistconstructs.Theyaremostlyconcernedwithexis-
tentialmatters,culturalpatternsandvaluesthatresultfromhumanself-
cognition,reflectionandchoice.Identityisunderstoodhereasadynamic
personallifeprojectthatisneverthelessconditionedbythesocialcontext.
Latemodernandpostmodernconceptionsofidentityarethemostrepresen-
tativeexamplesofpoststructuralistconceptsofidentity.
Latemodern
Giddens’sconceptofidentityisanchoredinlatemodernitybutexpressesits
radicalaspect.Therearethreeattributesgoverningthefeaturesofmoder-
nity:separationoftimeandspacewhichmakesitpossibletoplacesocial
phenomenaseparatelyintimeandseparatelyinspace,disembeddednessof
socialsystemsfromparticularsettingsandcontexts,andreflexivitywhichis
understoodasdefiningcorrelationsbetweensociallifeandknowledge,and
isthewayinwhichknowledgeinfluencesthecreationofsociallife(Gid-
dens,1994,p.16).Againstthebackgroundofthesecharacteristicfeaturesthe
ideaofidentityisbornbecausechangesinanindividual’sprivatelifedi-
rectlyreflectthesocialrelationsthatareestablishedonalargerscale.Inlate
modernity,lifeisaperson’sreflexiveproject,forwhichheorsheisheldre-
sponsible.Thisprojectisusuallyinitiatedwithasomewhatcalculatingatti-
tudeandstrategicplanningsoastopreventpotentialnegativeconse-
quences.Lifeasapersonalprojectisalsopossiblethankstotheexistenceof
innumerablealternativesinthesphereofidentity,whichgivesmanyoptions
forindividualsofwhotheycouldbecome.Latemodernity,however,offers
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