Post-Adolescent Identity Formation & the Emergence of Professional

Identities

Work, Identity and GlobalizationUniversität Bremen

March 28 - April 1, 2011

michael bambergClark University

mbamberg@clarku.edu

Post-Adolescent Identity Formation & the Emergence of Professional

IdentitiesAdolescence

post-adolescent development (“college”)

Identity‘professional’ identities (“college + purpose”)microgenesis

How do we study ‘emerging identities’?microanalysis of moment-by-moment changes

in interaction (in vivo - - in situ) (as interactive activity)

in small stories

‘Development’ + ‘Identity’

‘Development’ is a THEORY (an ‘approach’) to navigate CONSTANCY and CHANGE We don’t SEE ‘development’we don’t SEE ‘constancies’ or ‘changes’

‘Identity’ is a navigation process of three dilemmas:constancy and change (how have I changed?) temporal

dimension

sameness and difference (am I different from you?)agency (from world-to-selffrom self-to-world)

Both consist of processes of differentiation/integration

rec: play with

time

Phylogenesis

Progress ? — Regress ?

--directionality— --circularity--

sociogenesis – “civilization”

Norbert Elias

---a history (“story”)of nation states, knowledge, andindividuation

sociogenesis--- globalization--- civilization---

Self-Other Differentiati

on + Integration

Ontogenesis---

a history of integrationand differentiation across thelife-span

microgenesisMoment-by-moment changes

where actual change takes place in daily practices

“visible”?

Requiring a moment-by-moment analysis (microanalysis – “frame-by-frame”) <is the use of the magnifying glass a scientific procedure?>

Interactional—multi-modal analysisWhere a sense of self + purpose can be analytically

differentiated (+ integrated—into larger wholes)

Identity DilemmasNAVIGATING

Sameness/Difference (between self + other)Agency (from world-to-person vs. person-to-world)Constancy + Change (continuity/discontinuity/etc)

NARRATIVEThe means par excellence to navigate constancy/change In interviews (as self-reflection/of therapeutic value)

SMALL STORIES Interactively navigating all three dilemmasEveryday practices – moment-by-moment changes

Analytic OrientationWhat does it mean to analyze SMALL STORIES?

HERE: student identities In between ‘school’ and ‘profession’ (transitional)Peer-Interviews (three – each~one-hour long)Personal identity (personal history) – Student identity

(course of studies) – Answering the Who-Are-You (who-am-I) question – Engaging in identity-practices identifying trajectories (grounded in past experiences) identifying purpose (grounded in past experiences)orienting toward future (professional) identities

Study

Thank you!