This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by O'Connor, P. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Young People's Constructions of the Self

Late Modern Elements and Gender Differences

University of Limerick

This article looks at the ways in which young people reflexively construct their self within a rapidly changing society. Drawing on texts written by young people aged 14–17 years, it explores the existence of patterns identified by theorists of late modernity as regards relationships, fateful moments, a search for authenticity, life plans and life styles and looks at gender-differentiated trends in these areas drawing on a ‘weak cultural feminist tradition’ (Evans, 1995: 91).These texts are part of a sub-sample of approximately 34,000 texts written by young people in a school context in response to an invitation to ‘tell their life stories’ by writing a page ‘describing themselves and the Ireland they inhabit’.The article suggests that gender is a repressed but crucially important framework in the construction of young people's sense of self, while also identifying areas where consumer society is eroding gender difference.

Key Words: gender • late modern • reflexivity • self • young

Sociology, Vol. 40, No. 1, 107-124 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0038038506058437


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. McLeod and K. Wright The Talking Cure in Everyday Life: Gender, Generations and Friendship Sociology, February 1, 2009; 43(1): 122 - 139. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. S. Maguire and K. Stanway Looking good: Consumption and the problems of self-production European Journal of Cultural Studies, February 1, 2008; 11(1): 63 - 81. [Abstract] [PDF]