a bridge over troubled water draft 1

8/7/2019 A Bridge Over Troubled Water Draft 1

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Bridge over Troubled Water:

how personal relationships facilitate teenage identity construction

Since the research of Erik Erikson (1969) and James Marcia (1966, 1980), identity

has been an important theme in adolescent psychology. Initially most researchers

chose the individual as their primary unity of analysis, however during the last

decade contextual factors in adolescent development have attracted considerable

attention from scholars of adolescence. This paper uses James Cts explanation of

youth alienation from a political economy perspective (1994) to place adolescent

identity formation into a social context, and Charles Taylors (1995) assertion that

identities need to be formed in open dialogue, unfettered by social and cultural

scripts to be authentic, to make the point that identity formation and stabilisation is

becoming an increasingly complex and difficult undertaking for young people living

in a world in which personal choice seems to increase at the same exponential rate as

real power is concentrating in economic and political structures. The potential that

quality personalrelationships have to build a bridge over this ocean of treacherous

choice is highlighted and extended to consider the role of the teacher and

implications for pedagogy.


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Which factors contribute to a stable and balanced identity? And if this can be

determined, how can the analysis of their influence yield practical insights for

everyday pedagogy? These questions have been researched by a wide range of

disciplines emphasising a number of different aspects, from neurology, to psychology,

sociology and theology. Research interactions across fields are complex and

numerous, however scholars of adolescence frequently refer to some aspect of the

work of Erik Erikson as the basis of discussion (Adams & Marshall, 1996). Eriksons

approach to identity extends the psychosexual theory of Freud, but differs in that it

recognizes the continuing development of identity beyond childhood and the

importance of the impact of culture and society on an individual personality. Erikson

conceptualised identity development as one of eight psychosocial crises, which have

to be resolved in consecutive order if an individual is to develop a positive ego

identity (Erikson, 1959). At the fifth, the adolescent, stage, an individual must make a

conscious search for identity that involves evaluating experiences and views for

personal meaning which leads to the construction of an identity out of socially

possible faces and voices (Adams & Marshall, 1996). The resolution of the earlier

stages of development now becomes the foundation for identity search: Adolescents

who feel optimistic and secure, who are independent and curious, and who feel pride

in their accomplishments, are more likely to be able to effectively form an identity

during adolescence (Rice & Dolgin, 2005).

Researchers such as Marcia (1980) and Waterman (1985) have built on Eriksons

work by highlighting the many different variables which combine in the process of

identity development and proposing that each individual must bring these strands

together via conscious evaluation, followed by commitment to or rejection of a

particular belief, view, or suggestion. The more coherent the resultant structure is, the

less individuals have to rely on external sources to evaluate themselves (Marcia,

1980), the more likely they are to construct an authentic identity.

This paper examines the impact contemporary Western culture and society may have

on adolescents ability to arrive at this position and what challenges might result for

pedagogues.

The construction and confirmation of students self- concept is a very relevantconcern for teachers, as it is thought to influence achievement through its affect on


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motivation (Hay, Ashman, & van Kraayenoord, 1994), immunize against anxiety

disorders (Hay, Ashman, & van Kraayenoord, 1998) and depression (Hay, Byrne, &

Butler, 2000) as well as promote emotional stability and behavioural adjustment

(DuBois, Burk-Braxton, Swenson, Tevendale, & Hardesty, 2002).

Achieving an identity, which confers the above benefits because it is based on values

which are meaningful and significant for the self, becomes more difficult as the

boundaries of traditional social institutions break down, as what used to be constant

becomes variable and society itself loses cohesion.

When the creation of identity needs to take place outside of the influences of tradition,

the process is becomes increasingly problematic. The absence of traditional influences

forces people to mould their identity from their own experience or to turn to other

cultural information sources (such as the mass media) for guidance.

As Giddens (1991: 70) puts it:

'What to do? How to act? Who to be? These are focal questions for

everyone living in circumstances of late modernity - and ones which,

on some level or another, all of us answer, either discursively or

through day-to-day social behaviour.'

To master this changing reality, to exploit it creatively for personal benefit, the

adolescent has to make a myriad of decision where a generation ago firm social

expectation came to the rescue. However, while Giddens (1984) discusses the

experience of self-identity in the context of the massive intensional and extensional

changes that are set into being by the onset of modernity, he also argues that it is

misleading to suggest that contextual diversity in everyday life will necessarily

promote a fragmented self. An integrated self is equally seen as a possibility,

depending upon the ways n which individuals use the cultural resources at their

disposal.(Miles, 2000) Accessing of these cultural resources, the everyday

interpretation and negotiation of abundant lifestyle choices, presupposes that

individuals have baselines against which these evaluations can take place. This paper

explores why it is difficult for young people to find and commit to appropriate value

systems and what we as educators can do to help them.

The sociology of adolescence

Prior to the twentieth century, todays sharp distinction between adulthood and

adolescence did not exist (Ct & Allahar, 1996). The phenomenon of adolescence as


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a hormone-controlled, rebellious yet natural stage of human development came into

existence as a consequence of a conception of development as driven by biology, such

as put forward by psychologist G. Stanley Hall (1904). While adolescence itself

obviously has distinctive biological markers, it is possible to explain its concomitant

difficulties plausibly as the result of certain cultural conditions. Considerable cross-

cultural evidence exists that suggests that the phenomenon of adolescence as it is

popularly defined in contemporary Western society, is not universal but specific to

certain cultures and continues to develop within these cultures (Baumeister & Tice,

1986; Mead, 1924, cited in Ct & Allahar, 1996; Manning, 1983; Osgerby, 1998). If

adolescence is a cultural construct, it stands to reason that the aspects that constitute it

have evolved alongside the society in which they are situated.

At the beginning of the 21st Century, we live in a society, which is more pluralist than

ever. Peoples experiences, including young peoples experiences, are increasingly

diverse. We are moving

towards a post-modern consumer culture based upon a profusion of

information and proliferation of images which cannot be ultimately stabilized,

or hierachized into a system which correlates to fixed social divisions, [this]

would further suggest the irrelevance of social divisions and ultimately the end

of the social as a significant reference point. (Featherstone, 1991)

Ct and Allahar (1996) describe three ways in which late modernity is effecting the

experience of adolescence:

by prolongation, which began as a result of compulsory education and child

labour laws, and is continuing with the push towards retention in education

(see also the report by Mintel, 1988)

by disenfranchisement of young adults as they are staying financially

dependent on parents for longer

by the growth of massive leisure (e.g. media and music) and identity

industries (e.g. fashion and education) which target the growing population of

adolescent consumers and produce socially engineered identity crises to

safeguard the continued consumption of their product.

Young people face this bewildering array of identity choices at a time when they have

the capacity, but increasingly not the opportunity, to exercise emotional or financial


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independence from parents or other adults. This dependence imposes an extended

time-out on adolescents in which they are expected to choose which experiences and

beliefs will constitute their adult identities. A typical adolescent in Western society

may be physically and cognitively mature, up to a decade before they are socially

mature or adult.1 Having, as a rule, few responsibilities pertaining to others, and not

being able to participate in an equal capacity in adult society economically, politically

or socially, the focus during this time remains firmly on the self: the identity.

Me myself and I

Our society has created an almost impossible dialectic, which proposes that all human

beings are equal (our inheritance from the Enlightenment), that each human being is

also importantly unique (the romantic gloss) and most recently, that it is neither

possible not desirable to discover this essentially unique self, because it is merely a

contingent product of historical and cultural circumstance and as such an

accidental phenomena that could have been otherwise or not at all (a view describing

itself as post-modernist).

Notwithstanding these diverse perspectives, society expects individuals to find

themselves, to bring together their cultural, political, religious, ethnic, gender, and

other identities to create a synthesis, an awareness of personal identity different

from that of all others, an acute self-consciousness. To achieve this an individual has

to assess current and past interactions with social structures and decide which are

significant for the essential self (Taylor, 1993). It does not seem possible to do so

without appealing to various reasons for declaring one thing "significant," and another

not. In this way, the question "Who am I?" is a question of, by, and for reason.

Giddens (Giddens, 1991) asserts that

A lifestyle can be defined as a more or less integrated set of practices which anindividual embraces, not only because such practices fulfil utilitarian needs,

but because they give material form to a particular form of self-identity.

The nature of young peoples lifestyles has generally been addressed by sociologists

with reference to sub-cultures (Miles, 2000). From this perspective, I would like to

argue that lifestyle choices are not always indicative of an examined conscious

expression of identity; that instead it is possible that lifestyles are tried on by

adolescents for a variety of personal and social reasons and that they are not always1 The average age for the onset of puberty is(look up Rice)


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evaluated via a personal standard. There seems to be a cyclical process here whereby

adolescents construct their own value system via their identity, but are asked to

construct their identity by making choices about the significance of their experiences

based on their personal value system. Young people, are, in effect, looking for self-

definition, but have nothing to define themselves against (Miles, 2000):

Unlike fifty years ago, there are no ideologies for todays alienated to define

themselves against. Our cool predecessors knew who they were by virtue of

the fact that they disbelieved in those singular entities known as Marxism-

Leninism and the American/British Way of Life. But nowadays there are no

absolute belief systems left to disbelieve in. From priests to politicians,

everyone is as pragmatic and pluralist as only rebels without causes used to be.

(Calcutt, 1998)

Despite the waning importance of subcultures, the break-down of family units, the

increasing individuism, cyber reality and resultant loneliness and alienation,

adolescents needfor belonging and recognition has not changed(Lechner, 2003). If

these are not provided, if the adolescent is left wanting validating interpersonal

connections, clear normative horizons and respect for others and the self, identity

stabilization is often sought through addictive or violent behaviour(Lechner,

2003).Not validating or recognising the emerging identity of a young person can

result in suffering as it condemns the subject to a deformed, unauthentic form of being

and thus constitutes abuse according to Taylor(2001).

Balanced primary relationships (distinguished by reciprocal love) offer the first and

best opportunity for the provision of recognition, according to Axel Honneth.

Honneth refers also to the need to be recognised as having rights before the law, and

the need to perceive that one is valued as a member of society. Many adolescents are

in a position where they have lost relationships to parents, (It has been estimated that

more than one in three parents are seriously disengaged from their adolescents lifeand especially from their education (Fullan, 2001), are not yet equal under the law,

and are often vilified by public opinion.These predicaments along with the blatant

exploitation of their need to belong by identity merchants pedalling everything from

fashion to plastic surgery, from cult movies to university degrees, make identity

construction such a precarious undertaking for adolescents today.


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Pedagogic action

Fatalism is not an acceptable reaction to the situation. It is first of all important that

we question to what extent we value students as autonomous personalities and

encourage them to develop as authentic and connected individuals? Do we promote an

atmosphere of mindless conformity or critical self analysis? Do we teach children

how to fit into the school system, or the school system how it can be fit for children?

Given what we know of the importance of primary relationships, we should become

interested in which of our students have the benefit of strong, validating personal

relationships, and which have not. We should ask ourselves if we can extend the

middle school idea of main teacher per class? Pastoral care? Much smaller classes for

this purpose? Mentors?

Taylor (1993)shows that self-examination (which is so necessary for the construction

of an authentic identity),is always, and must be, dialogic: we learn how to understand

ourselves through conversation-through being variously perceived, understood, and

judged by others, and in turn learning how to perceive, understand, and judge in our

own right Humans negotiate meaning through communication and interaction

(Giddens, 1991) By teaching student how to establish and evaluate a value system as

a point of reference, we teach them how to believe in something and therefore become

capable of social action. By reflecting on their own behaviour, people are always

capable, to some extent, of influencing and transforming their social situations, as

social structures do not just influence people, but people also influence social

structures, explicitly or implicitly.

Provision for dialogue would be made via classes (such as philosophical enquiry,e tc),

programs (such as Ironbark), but also by restructuring teachers workload based on

the enormous social value they have, so that they can effectively support the identity

formation particularly those of our adolescent who are at-risk because they do not

have access to adults with committed authentic identities.


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a bridge over troubled water draft 1

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