Conclusions

Abstract

Toward the end, it would be theoretically meaningful to draw certain conclu- sions, based on the analysis of interviewees’ responses, to be “timeless” after a period of being “timebound”. First of all, the “marginal man” hypothesis, de- scribed in the first chapter, was confirmed to a varying degree in cases where the effort was at negotiation and renegotiation, formation and reformation, of iden- tity. Those who settled for an established identity category, exhibiting a prefer- ence for essentialism, were those who were uncomfortable with being in the middle, not able to cope with the stress of the situation. So, we could refine the notion of “marginal man” by adding that, only those who do deal and negotiatewith the predicament in positive manner, and attempt a blend of civilizations, or try to construct new spaces or alternatives, could be called ’marginal men’. Not everyone who “lives in two worlds, in both of which he is more or less of a stranger”, or “whom fate has condemned to live in two societies and in two, not merely different but antagonistic, cultures”, deserves the appellation. Or, it is “I” that makes a person “marginal man”, and not just “me” in a narrow sense of the term (meaning the situation in which one exists). It is about ’becoming’, not simply ’being’. Toennies’ idea of an “individual man” is abstract, and could be applied in the case of visionaries.