Self-Identity and Everyday Life (The New Sociology) - Softcover

'Harvie Ferguson’s Self-Identity and Everyday Life is a most welcome addition to Routledge’s everyday life titles in general and its New Sociology series in particular...Self-Identity and Everyday Life could be used across the humanities and social sciences, particularly by social theorists and interdisciplinary practitioners interested in self-identity or the much neglected area of everyday life studies.' – The Canadian Journal of Sociology, Vol. 35, No. 1, 2010

'Identity' and 'selfhood' are terms routinely used throughout the human sciences that seek to analyze and describe the character of everyday life and experience. Yet these terms are seldom defined or used with any precision, and scant regard is paid to the historical and cultural context in which they arose, or to which they are applied.

This innovative book provides fresh historical insights in terms of the emergence, development, and interrelationship of specific and varied notions of identity and selfhood, and outlines a new sociological framework for analyzing it.

This is the first historical/sociological framework for discussion of issues which have until now, generally been treated as 'philosophy' or 'psychology', and as such it is essential reading for those undergraduates and postgraduates of sociology, philosophy and history and cultural studies interested in the concepts of identity and self. It covers a broader range of material than is usual in this style of text, and includes a survey of relevant literature and precise analysis of key concepts written in a student-friendly style.