Psychological Self Determination and the quest for identity

For those that have heard me speak, one of the central tenents of my argument is that in a post modern world we can have many selves. Identity previously defined by external forces is inverted in the postmodern age.

But we all need to have identity and part of that process is belonging. If we cannot acheive this quest we become very noisy ghosts in the machine

Until postmodern times, we dealt with problems that had their origins in relation to the other or the outside in a concrete way and in imagination problems tended to come from people with psychosis or personality disorders. We are still getting those problems but what has changed for some people are the triggers to illness, in so much as people who do not have a strong inner sense of self tend to feel more fragmented more easily and the idea of self construction is very threatening to these types of people.

They seem to need more direct human contact to help them to define themselves and years ago would have been defined and lived within the confines of their families, villages, social classes or friends, with daily personal interaction reinforcing that. So, for instance, we see a lot of phobias and depressions, particularly problems such as social phobia that are linked to this fearfulness of how to be in the world and whether one is acceptable or not.

So I am looking forward to this discussion between Danah Boyd, Marc Canter and Susan Kish

From Smartmobs

Forming cliques and joining communities are human nature. The Internet, TV, music, mobile devices, virtual reality, gaming, and print media make it easier for people to form communities in which they can access information, share resources and connect with others. This discussion looks at communities of interest and their business models.

The video can be watched here

Comments

[Michel Bauwens]

Hi Alan:

I enjoy your blog which I read regularly, though in 'batches'.

What is not clear to me is which discussion between Boyd, Canter etc.. you are referring to ...

The theme you broach today is covered in a special section of our wiki, focused on the transition from everything being centered on individuality, to being centered around relationality. One of your quotes is used in the introductory page.

See http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Category:Relational

Michel

[Alan moore]

Dear Michel,

This came via smartmobs I linked the source. And a link to the video.

Alan

I was going to blog further about this as I had to sit through a 1 hour presentation of Saatchi and Saatchi, before I got to Danah boyd etc.,

Let me know if you want to discuss offline

Thanks for the heads up

Alan

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