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Failed identities: on the processes and meanings of unformed alternate selves

chapter
posted on 2023-06-10, 03:46 authored by Susie ScottSusie Scott
Drawing on Susie Scott’s theory of the sociology of nothing, this chapter presents a model of failure as meaningful non-occurrence, focusing on the example of self-identities that “fail” to develop. Negatively defined phenomena can shape identity: for example, non-events, no-body figures, no-thing objects and no-where places. The chapter explores how nothing happens interactively, through relational processes, but also biographically, through the construction of meaningful non-selves. It examines two negative identity trajectories, or routes to unbecoming. Acts of commission lead to a process of dis-identification, or becoming a “non-,” whereby an individual consciously rejects, rebels against, is denied or refuses to be a certain social type. Acts of omission lead to a process of non-identification, or “non-becoming,” whereby roles that could be possible do not manifest. Illustrative examples of each route are provided from a qualitative research study, which gathered written personal stories from 28 participants.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Publisher

Routledge

Volume

1st Ed

Pages

560.0

Book title

Routledge International Handbook of Failure

Place of publication

London

ISBN

9780367404048

Series

Routledge International Handbooks

Department affiliated with

  • Sociology and Criminology Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Editors

Adriana Mica, Mikolaj Pawlak, Anna Horolets, Pawel Kubicki

Legacy Posted Date

2022-06-06

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2022-06-06

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