Conclusion : Fundamental Issues in the Study of Self and Identity-Contrasts, Contexts, and Conflicts

Abstract

Abstract This volume has identified some of the conceptual contrasts and historical and sociocultural contexts with which social scientists are grappling as we begin a second century of exploration of self and identity. The chapters in this book have highlighted two contrasts: self as multiplicity versus unity of identity, and self as personal versus self as social. They have also addressed three contexts: history, culture, and American society at the end of the twentieth century. In doing so, several important metatheoretical conflicts have emerged regarding how the self should be construed and studied and regarding which aspects of the self are most important to study.