literatures on subjectivity and embodiment with classical work in
symbolic interactionism.
Keywords:Postmodernity; identity; subculture; embodiment; ritual;
symbolic interactionismYOUTH IDENTITY IN A POSTMODERN WORLD
This paper examines how young people develop meaningful self-concepts
in the postmodern social world.^1 Although categories like race, class, and
gender continue to restrict possibilities for self-definition (Gubrium &
Holstein, 2000; Schwalbe, 1993), many people experience unprecedented
choice in terms of identity. Because the social institutions that once pre-
scribed status and identity have weakened (Bauman, 1986; Turner, 1976),
the capacity to freelychoosewho one is anddecidewho one will become
has opened to more individuals than ever before (Frank & Meyer, 2002).
Those with choice typically lack institutional guides for selecting among
competing identifications, however (Gergen, 1991; Giddens, 1991). Given
that the culture and media industries endlessly market novel identities and
lifestyles for consumption, self-concepts often feel suspect in light of other
options. Because the processes of “identity exploration” (Grotevant, 1989)
and “identity formation” come to a fore during adolescence (Erikson,
1968 ; Kroger, 2003), the pressures of postmodern identity construction
most acutely afflict the young (Arnett, 2002).
While many scholars have noted the shift from identity as given to iden-
tityas choice (Baudrillard, 1983;Bauman, 1991; Gergen, 1991; Giddens,
1991 ; Jameson, 1984), few have empirically investigated the processes
through which young people make decisions about identification. With an
eye toward enhancing scholarly understanding of this process, I draw on
data collected from an ethnographic investigation of punk subculture in
order to analyze how young people select and confirm their identities.
Unlike existing inquiries into this area, which emphasize the discursive
practices that social actors utilize when carrying out “identity work”
(Glaeser, 2000; Muggleton, 2000; Snow & Anderson, 1987), I draw from
the existential phenomenology ofMerleau-Ponty (1962)and the practice
theory ofBourdieu (1977)in order to highlight the role that embodiment
and performativity play in self-formation.
I begin the paper with a discussion of how post-modernization compli-
catesthe process of self-formation by saturating individuals with competing
162 PHILIP LEWIN