Abstract
The proclamation of the “Society of Singularities” (Reckwitz 2018) adds a novel nuance to the individualization-theoretical discourse. This contemporary diagnosis, which is certainly very accurate in many aspects, especially with regard to the individual, should not, however, lead us to proclaim the death of the collective – unless we also wish it a long life subsequently. The same applies to religion, nation, people, gender, race, even “the revolution” as the basis of processes of sociation. These points of identification do not necessarily have to be carried by a existing collective, but can also refer to an imagined community (Anderson 2006). Nevertheless, belonging and the politics of belonging (Yuval-Davis 2006) remain relevant for shaping the identities of individuals. This is true not only for oneself’s own combination of distinctive inclusions and exclusions as the basis of individuality. Rather, even the oxymoron of an elite middle class does not produce its singularity apart from collectives. Singularity must be recognizable, understandable, and therefore remains fundamentally dependent on collectivity.
Le roi est mort, vive le roi!
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Notes
- 1.
In my view, this reading is entirely in line with Reckwitz (2018, p. 12). The talk of “singularities” thus does not bring the author back to life.
- 2.
As is evident in the campaign’s numerous promotional films, issues such as economic self-determination, control over national borders, the cost of EU bureaucracy and healthcare may be at the forefront of the campaign. The films draw, however, primarily on British clichés such as local dialects, lifestyles, football and public spaces such as pubs. Alongside this, there are also completely blunt claims to uniqueness, as most poignantly demonstrated by the ‘Heroes’ spot, where Newton, Lord Nelson, Darwin, Churchill, Turing etc. are touted as British Heroes (Vote Leave 2015).
- 3.
In view of de Beauvoir’s “Le Deuxième Sexe,” it should be taken into account that “third” could also be understood as a less valorized, backward gender.
- 4.
On the Internet, there are several versions of “le roi est mort, vive le roi!” in various languages, in which the subject has been substituted by “collective,” “nation,” “gender,” “race,” etc. Perhaps it would be fruitful to integrate these semantics into the description of contemporary society.
- 5.
We do not speak of “social identities“ as Goffman does, since “Goffman’s term [seems] unfortunate in that there is, of course, no identity that is not ‘social’[.]” (Willems and Hahn 1999, p. 15).
- 6.
The terms “construction”, “production” and “fabrication” as well as their respective derivatives are used synonymously throughout this volume in the sense of the production model developed in this study. “Constitution,” on the other hand, is not used terminologically. However, this term tends to refer to the composition of those processes that engage in construction. For example, communicative and precommunicative processes are constituted and in turn construct identities. Thus, the expression is applied in a similar way to Loenhoff (2001, p. 151 ff.) when he speaks of the “constitution of interaction systems.” This tentative determination is merely meant to underline that it is not the phenomenological usage of the expression, which “from Husserl to Gurwitsch and Schütz [refers to] how general structures of the lifeworld are constituted in certain performances of consciousness.” (Luckmann 2008b, p. 34)
- 7.
The predicate “general” is not meant to express that it is a theory with a claim to universality. Rather, it refers to the scope of the subject matter. Thus, a general communication theory does not refer to individual domains such as public communication, communication in organisations, institutionalised communication and group communication, but is located on such a level of abstraction that it can be concretised with regard to all domains.
- 8.
Time is the crucial component in avoiding the paradox that appears here.
- 9.
Even micro-sociology in the tradition of Goffman cannot capture these processes, since it has still not produced a concept of interaction with which the foundational relations of interactions can be described (see Sect. 2.1).
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Kurilla, R. (2023). Introduction. In: Group Identity Fabrication Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39967-2_1
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