The Reflexive Self is a critical discussion of contemporary
self-identity as a reflexive project, which Anthony Giddens claims has
emerged as a result of recent and radical social upheavals in late
modernity. It initially traces the development of an account of social
change and self-identity in Giddens's writing. The author then offers a
critical analysis of Giddens's key claims. Drawing on a wide range of
critical social and psychological theory, the idea of a reflexively
formed self- identity is problematised by various issues: the culturally
situated nature of modern identity; aspects of self-experience which may
compromise a reflexive understanding of the self; and the importance of
social relations of power in a theorisation of self-identity. These
discussions are clarified by reference to various illustrative
psychosocial topics such as social class, intimacy, fate, trust. and
power. The author claims that Giddens's notion of reflexivity needs to
be extensively revised in order to more accurately represent
contemporary forms of self-identity.