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Concepts of the Self
4th edition
Anthony Elliott
polity
Copyright page
Copyright © Anthony Elliott 2020
The right of Anthony Elliott to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First edition published in 2001 by Polity Press
This fourth edition first published in 2020 by Polity Press
Polity Press
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ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3879-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3880-5(pb)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Elliott, Anthony, 1964- author.
Title: Concepts of the self / Anthony Elliott.
Description: 4th edition. | Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA, USA : Polity Press, 2020. | Series: Key concepts series | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Smart guide to a wide range of theories of the social self”-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019050975 (print) | LCCN 2019050976 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509538799 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509538805 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509538812 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Self.
Classification: LCC BF697 .E498 2020 (print) | LCC BF697 (ebook) | DDC 302.5--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019050975
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019050976
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Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon
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Dedication
For Caoimhe
Acknowledgements
When this book was initially published, some twenty years ago, the topic of the self was considered relatively marginal in mainstream social science. Since that time, the intellectual stock-market ratings of identity and the self have moved increasingly centre-stage, and it has been my good fortune to receive many comments from students and lecturers – in fields such as sociology, political science, cultural and media studies – who have studied this book in order to better grapple with our lives in these times. As I try to demonstrate throughout the book, there is no one disciplinary approach for adequately grasping the complexities of self in the global digital age; on the contrary, only an interdisciplinary approach – the standpoint of social theory – can sufficiently scoop up the complex array of theoretical standpoints (from structuralism to psychoanalysis, feminism to postmodernism) in order to engage concepts of the self that are so fundamental to both public political life and the social sciences and humanities. In this new edition, I have made updates that, wherever possible, report on the latest research advances and political developments. There is also a new chapter on technological innovations in artificial intelligence, robotics and accelerating automation, one of the biggest transformations in the world impacting the self and personal life.
My thanks, as ever, to everyone at Polity Press, in particular John Thompson and especially Jonathan Skerrett for assistance in preparing this fourth edition.
The following people provided invaluable support as I was working on this edition: Anthony Giddens, Gerhard Boomgaarden, Masataka Katagiri, Ralf Blomqvist, Eric Hsu, Ross Boyd, Louis Everuss, Judy Wajcman, John Cash, Atsushi Sawai, Anthony Moran, Carmel Meiklejohn, Kriss McKie, Rina Yamamoto, Takeshi Deguchi, Hideki Endo and Nick Stevenson. I should like to thank Nicola Geraghty, who supported my work on this book across all editions. The book originally appeared around the time of the birth of our daughter Caoimhe, and it always was her book: as I watch her navigate the rich territories of her world, I realize that the book remains hers, more than ever.
Anthony Elliott
Adelaide
Introduction
With the soothing sound of the BBC sounding from her alarm clock at 6.00 am, Ronda wakes – like many the world over living in expensive cities of the West – to the latest news bulletin streamed on the Internet. Listening to the morning headlines, she asks Siri to check any overnight emails. A high-flying lawyer based in London, Ronda is working at present on a corporate takeover involving both British and American companies – and later in the day will fly to New York for further discussions on the deal. But it’s coffee she needs first. Heading downstairs, she flicks on the LCD TV inbuilt on the smart fridge in her minimalist kitchen and checks the international weather on ITV. Sitting down to coffee and a bagel, she scans social media not only to see what’s going on in ‘her’ world, but also to check comment on the latest financial developments. All of this has taken about fifteen minutes. The city is London, but it might just as easily be Los Angeles, Sydney, Singapore, Athens or Auckland.
Ronda’s morning routine tells us a good deal