I'm kinda liking this Lerner dude's take on the evolution of subjectivity through modernization. Seems to me like a way of describing factors that go into the construction of a post-structural self - one that is adaptable to both deep structure (say, culture) and structure more palpable to perception (such as microsocial interaction).
My buddy Carole is a gem. This afternoon she told me she'd never met anyone like me and wonders how my life will turn out. So do I! We were talking about the things I do. I keep trying to figure out what it is, actually, that I "do." :-) And why! Since what I do often results in distress (for me and for others, to varying degrees and intensities, situationally). Is there something I bring that is actually an "asset", and if so, what is it? Am I misusing or misapplying it? Are there other ways to "use" it than the ways I currently know?
I think this is what group relations people call parallel process. As grad student reps, we have to make a "group decision" that "represents" a larger body than just us three.
My students are starting to look at how they make decisions in small groups.
I examine how I make decisions in groups.
Starting at the mid-level (structurally in the organization), the parallelization occurs "downward", but does it also occur "upward"? I.e., are "we" reflecting a decision-making structure that pre-dates us and perhaps is hierarchically/structurally "imposed" upon us?
The next part is about me - intrasubjectively, but with bearing on intersubjectivity (although I don't go into role).
I was warned. So are you. The following poem is "personal" and may even be considered, by some, "private."
Of course, I come to disbelieve the utility of these concepts more and more. They are a convenient boundary to locate meaning in the other, distancing self from responsibility and foreclosing awareness of co-construction. Nonetheless, my own culpability reeks.
