Identity is now a matter of choice rather than inherited absolute truth
Evidence
Even when we revert to traditional roles, these are choices now rather than absolute truths imposed at birth. As the great clinician of identity, Erik Erikson, once described it, “The patient of today suffers most under the problem of what he should believe and who he should—or… might—be or become; while the patient of early psychoanalysis suffered most under inhibitions which prevented him from being what and who he thought he knew he was.” This new mentality has been most pronounced in wealthier countries, but research shows significant pluralities of second-modernity individuals in nearly every region of the world. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 112
Categorization
- DEFINE: Erikson’s quotation sharply defines the existential difference between the two modernities’ typical psychological afflictions.
- CANDY: The Erikson quote on how the patient’s problem shifted from inhibition to identity is a compact, striking formulation.
- XREF: connects to: Identity is both a source of agency and increasingly constructed rather than given; Identity is a positional political choice, not an ascribed primordial given; Diasporic identity must be deliberately reconfigured rather than naturally inherited. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 1203 (+9 more)
Broader Connections
- Identity is both a source of agency and increasingly constructed rather than given
#corroborates(0.95) - Identity is a positional political choice, not an ascribed primordial given
#corroborates(0.95) - Identity is a political claim to belonging, not a fixed trait
#corroborates(0.90) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2696 - Diasporic identity must be deliberately reconfigured rather than naturally inherited.
#corroborates(0.85) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 1203