Simmel and identity
Jonathan Epstein (epstein@wfu.edu)
Mon, 22 Jan 1996 22:36:47 -0500 (EST)
Tim-
David is steering you in the right direction
with the Stranger and the Adventurer.
keep in mind, however, that when Simmel was
writing "identity," as a sociolgical concept didn't
exist. The stranger and the adventurer are descriptions
for social forms, or frameworks, in which certain
identities may emerge.
The stranger is a form that is imposed on an individual
by others, while the adventurer imposes he form upon themselves.
Of course being a stranger can be an adventure, and one can become
a stranger based on the specific events that occur during an
adventure. It gets pretty complicated.
Lyman and Scott idenitify the adventure as a framework by
which an individual can experiement with multiple identities,
primarily, but not exclusively, through the manipulation
or redefining of "timetracks." Also informative here
is the chapter on game frameworks in _Sociology
of the Absurd_.
By the way, there are multiple definitions of "indentiy"
out there: Stryker and Collero are the mostt quanitiative
of the bunch, and offer a radical contrast to
the postmodernist informed defintion that is
widely accepted, but not without vocal objections,
in the SSSI.
Yeaboy,
Jon