Making our way through the world : human reflexivity and social mobility / Margaret S. Archer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Archer, Margaret S. (Margaret Scotford), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social mobility.

Reflection (Philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 343 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

How do we reflect upon ourselves and our concerns in relation to society, and vice versa? Human reflexivity works through 'internal conversations' using language, but also emotions, sensations and images. Most people acknowledge this 'inner-dialogue' and can report upon it. However, little research has been conducted on 'internal conversations' and how they mediate between our ultimate concerns and the social contexts we confront. In this book, Margaret Archer argues that reflexivity is progressively replacing routine action in late modernity, shaping how ordinary people make their way through the world. Using interviewees' life and work histories, she shows how 'internal conversations' guide the occupations people seek, keep or quit; their stances towards structural constraints and enablements; and their resulting patterns of social mobility.

Contents:

Introduction: reflexivity as the unacknowledged condition of social life

PART I. Reflexivity's biographies

Reflexivity in action

Reflexivity and working at social positioning

PART II. Introduction to Part II: how 'contexts' and 'concerns' shape internal conversations

Communicative reflexives: working at staying put

Autonomous reflexives: upward and outward bound

Meta-reflexives: moving on

PART III. Internal conversations and their outworks

Conclusion: reflexivity's future.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-18158-5

1-280-91716-4

9786610917167

0-511-28975-8

0-511-28846-8

0-511-29035-7

0-511-32237-2

0-511-61893-X

0-511-28914-6

OCLC:

476097517