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Exploring the Self Through Giddens and Bourdieu

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Intercultural Experience and Identity

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Abstract

In this chapter, the notion of identity is discussed, in particular, the modern development of this concept. I then examine the theoretical framework underpinning the book project. This study is mainly underpinned by Giddens’ (Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age, Polity, Cambridge, 1991) concept of “the reflexive project of the self” in which identity is seen as unfixed, fragmented, socially constructed and reflexive. Consistent with my aim to avoid “othering”, this approach challenges the notions of culture and identity as categorised, essentialised, imposed and united, and departs in important respects from other studies of the intercultural adaptation of Chinese students. Apart from Giddens’ self-identity theory, I mobilise Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of capital, field and habitus to understand students’ social positions and address the issue of structural constraints on individual’s agency and reflexivity.

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  1. Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, Beijing, China

    Lily Lei Ye

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Ye, L.L. (2018). Exploring the Self Through Giddens and Bourdieu. In: Intercultural Experience and Identity. Palgrave Studies on Chinese Education in a Global Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91373-5_4

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