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Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and self-identity (chapters 1 and 2)

GIDDENS, Anthony. Modernity and self-identity: self and society in the late modern age. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991, 256 s. ISBN 0-8047-1944-6.

Notes:
Rethinking of modernity is a fundamental sociological problem o modern institutions differ in: dynamism undercutting of traditional habits and customs global impact sociology is an inherent element of the institutional reflexivity of modernity reflexivity o the institutionalized principle of radical doubt o knowledge in form of hypotheses 3 o means of forming of self in high modernity o accumulation of practical knowledge serves to organise, to alter the aspects of social life they report on or analyse 14 knowledge constitutive to the social life (not just incidental) the self in high modernity 3 o trust means of achieving an early ontological sense of security leap into faith o risk a crucial concept of organization of the social world o reflexivity influence of distant happenings to individuals` self the media a new world - an unitary framework of experiences o basic axes of time and space In the post-traditional order of modernity, and against the backdrop of new forms of mediated experience, self-identity becomes a reflexively organised endeavour. 5 The reflexive project of the self, which consists in the sustaining of coherent, yet continuously revised, biographical narratives, takes place in the context of multiple choices as filtered through abstract systems 5 significance of lifestyles negotiation among the diversity of choices, dialectical interplay of local and global and the loss of the hold of tradition throughout the social scale standardizing influences: capitalism and commodification openness of social life, pluralisation of contexts of action, authorities

simon.fiala@seznam.cz reflexive life planning with risks mediated through the expert knowledge being considered the influences on the body 6 the body being perceived as less extrinsically given - itself reflexively mobilized Narcissism? Rather an expression of concern and control, constructing the body pursuit of bodily regimes global/local - reproduction strategies, reproductive technologies Self-identity forms a trajectory for us across the different institutional settings of modernity over the dure of what used to be called the `life cycle` 14 A biography is not possessed, but actively constructed and lived 14 Reflexively organized around the information of possible ways of life o the transformation of intimacy 6 pure relationship as prototypical of the new spheres of personal life reflexively controlled over the long term traditional constrains dissolved, relationship evaluated on its own criteria only commitment trust Sequestration of experience 8 o contact with the natural sphere provided through media and expert knowledge Life politics 9 A life in a constant crisis o danger and opportunity in the life of the modern man Modernity in general consideration o Modernity: institutions and modes of behaviour established first in the post feudal Europe, which have increasingly become world-historical in their impact in the 20th century 14-15 industrialism - maintains an important but not definite dimension capitalism - commodity production and competitive markets, commodification of labour power Foucauldian disciplines and surveillance Monopolization and regulation of means of violence A nation-state Means of reflexively monitored collective action - policies and plans the rise of organisation dynamism, discontinuousness o reorganization of time and space globally synchronized and gradually less dependent on situatedness of place 16 dissolution of connectedness of time and space, creating empty (abstract) dimensions of time and space 2

simon.fiala@seznam.cz Expansion of disembedding (differentiated) mechanisms 18 Abstract systems symbolic tokens o media of exchange which have standard value expert systems o deploying modes of technical knowledge which have validity independent of their practitioners and users Trust in disembedding mechanisms is not confined to lay people only. No one can grasp more than a tiny part of the knowledge and has to rely on the others 22 o Reflexivity 20 not a simple accumulation of knowledge susceptibility of social relations and relations to nature to chronic state of revision modern science undermined the enlightenment period notion of science, which gave birth to it in the first place existential parameters not confined to philosophers, appropriated by the lay people 28 change doesnt conform neither to human expectations nor human control The anticipation that the social and natural environments would increasingly be subject to rational ordering has not proved to be valid 28 Fate risk o Modernity risk society (Beck), reflexively mobilised and responsible o Risk assessment and evaluation are central mediation of experience o modernity is inseparable from its own media 24 o media and the collage effect o modernity dissociates, fragments postmodernity globalizing tendencies and the self o universalist nature, expansive o the dialectic of local and global o personal identity on the other side of the global/local dialectic relation The reflexivity of modernity extends into the core of the self 32 the self becomes a reflexive project 32 self has to be explored and constructed as a part of a reflexive process of connecting personal and social change abstract systems centrally involved in the formation and the continuity of the self 33 Lifestyles and life plans o Therapy o Self-actualization 3 o

simon.fiala@seznam.cz A lifestyle can be defined as a more or less integrated set of practices which an individual embraces, not only because such practices fulfil utilitarian needs, but because they give material form to a particular narrative of self-identity. 81 Routines followed reflexively open to change Work, consumption Multiplicity of choices, but not all open to everyone 82 Features of classification, not just results Involves unity, choices ordered into a compatible pattern important to the sense of continuity and ontological security o Emancipation from situations of oppression is the necessary means of expanding the scope of lifestyle option, but even those most unprivileged live in situations permeated by institutional components of modernity 86 The body and self-actualisation o Bodily appearance Central elements of the reflexive project of the self 100 o Demeanour Influenced by the pluralisation of milieu Goffman Sustains a link to a personal narrative o Neither appearance nor demeanour organised as given The body participates in a very direct way in the principle that the self has to be constructed 100 o Sensuality of the body Body care listening to the body Reflexive confrontation of sensual influences and abstract systems o Regimes of the body o