Description
Book SynopsisWhat do young people want from life? Using analysis of family experiences and life histories, Margaret Archer concludes her investigation of the role of the 'internal conversation' in mediating between structure and agency. She advances a new theory of relational socialisation and shows how forms of reflexivity may be changing.
Trade Review'In critiquing the theory of reflexive modernity, Archer provides a valuable service in questioning such a focus … This is an important and welcome critique insofar as it argues, in contrast to reflexive modernization theory, that structural and cultural changes are behind this trend.' Jonathan Joseph, Journal of Critical Realism
'… an important and welcome critique …' Jonathan Joseph, Journal of Critical Realism
Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. A brief history of how reflexivity becomes imperative; 2. The reflexive imperative versus habits and habitus; 3. Re-conceptualizing socialization as 'relational reflexivity'; 4. Communicative reflexivity and its decline; 5. Autonomous reflexivity: the new spirit of social enterprise; 6. Meta-reflexives: critics of market and state; 7. Fractured reflexives: casualties of the reflexive imperative; Conclusion; Methodological appendix.
