In Dilemmas of the American Self, Hewitt makes the case that all the
discourse surrounding the self from Lasch to Turner, Rieff, Bellah an
so on... (both pessimistic and optimistic) tells us that we aren't
through with the self. If we're celebrating its strength or mourning
its loss, the end result is the discourse goes on.
I guess my take on your query would be that it will always be useful to
attempt to characterize the self for what it can tell us about our own
social world. My best guess is that non-academics, especially in American
culture, are going to find the self interesting and worthy of discussion
with or without academics to legitimate it. This probably isn't any help
but you got me to thinking about it too.I think it's an interesting question
that you ask.
Lori Holyfield
U of Arkansas