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Volume 3 Number 1 Fall 2008
| Are You Like
This...Or Just Behave This Way? Katrin Kullasepp Tallinn University, Estonia |
pp. 69-92 |
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ABSTRACT. Becoming
oneself
occurs always within the context where
intra-psychological functioning is interdependent with the
inter-personal
social world. Chaudhary (2008) stresses importance of culture and
distinguishes
human activity in its different forms that guide common features of
identities
among members within the same society—as in the case
of a person’s orientedness towards others in India. The
question that emerges is how to explain construction of varieties of
selves
around a central dimension --self-other orientation-- within a similar
socialization
environment. Identities involve
features that represent tendencies which are in opposition to these
that
dominate within the given society at the given time. Chaudhary’s target
article
explores the Self-Other-Group dynamics and its role in
individual-culture
integration in developmental processes. Here I provide an
additional—intra-psychologically
focused-- look at the construction of context-based identity. In order
to
complement Chaudhary´s discussion on monologicality within the
dialogical
frame, I bring in a focus on ambivalence and demonstrate how it
constitutes a
core resource in the dynamics of dialogical self. |
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Keywords:
dialogical self, identity construction, hindrance as
opportunity, as-if
ambivalence |
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