Post-Adolescent Identity Formation & the Emergence of Professional Identities Work, Identity and Globalization Universität Bremen March 28 - April 1, 2011 michael bamberg Clark University

Post-Adolescent Identity Formation & the Emergence of Professional Identities Adolescence 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-self  from 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, and individuation sociogenesis --- globalization--- civilization--- Self - Other Differentiation + Integration

Ontogenesis--- a history of integration and differentiation across the life-span

microgenesis Moment-by-moment changes where actual change takes place in daily practices “visible”? Requiring a moment-by-moment analysis (microanalysis – “frame-by-frame”) Interactional—multi-modal analysis Where a sense of self + purpose can be analytically differentiated (+ integrated—into larger wholes)

Identity Dilemmas NAVIGATING Sameness/Difference (between self + other) Agency (from world-to-person vs. person-to-world) Constancy + Change (continuity/discontinuity/etc) NARRATIVE The means par excellence to navigate constancy/change In interviews (as self-reflection/of therapeutic value) SMALL STORIES Interactively navigating all three dilemmas Everyday practices – moment-by-moment changes

Analytic Orientation What 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!