Robinson & Smith. Individual crisis episodes and cultural transition

The presentation is in the attachment to this page. Here are some excerpts from it.

Individual Crisis Episodes and
Cultural Transition: Finding the
Macrocosm in the Microcosm
Dr Oliver Robinson
Prof Jonathan Smith
“No man is an island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece
of the continent, a part of the main.” John Donne

Theory and Aim
• According to dialogical self theory
(Hermanns, 2001), individual identities
reflect and co-opt cultural voices and values
“Cultures and selves are seen as moving and mixing and as
increasingly sensitive to travel and translocality.” (Hermans, 2001)
• The aim was ascertain whether identity
“position leaps” over an episode of crisis in
early adulthood would reflect macrocosmic
cultural shifts and cultural crises

Key Cultural Shifts: Marriage and
Parenthood
Key Cultural Shifts: Masculinity
• Traditional conceptions of masculinity have been
challenged: A ‘crisis of masculinity’?
• Elements of new masculinity:
– Not pushing for control within families
– Sexual equality
– New responsibilities for caring for children
– Acceptance of feelings, emotions and vulnerability
– More interest in relationships
• UK rise in the number of stay-at-home fathers who take
primary child-rearing responsibility, from being not even
statistically registered in the 1970s, to 118,000 in 1993 to
194,000 in 2006
• In the USA, for those fathers who do live with their
children, there has been a doubling in the amount of time
spent with their children since the 1970s

Key Cultural Shifts: Femininity
• Contradictory messages to women entering
adulthood
– Cultural stereotype of wife/mother still remains
– Also stereotype of empowered businesswoman
or career woman
• Growing female presence in the workplace
• Since 1991 there has been a 13% increase
in part-time employment of women, and a
7% increase in full-time employment

Cultural Shifts – Work and Career
• Lifelong professions and singular careers are
giving way to portfolio careers, freelance roles,
part-time work integrated with childcare, short-
term contracts and multiple professional roles
• National statistics in the UK show a rise between
1991 and 2001 in part-time occupations for both
males and females
• In the USA, largest job growth recorded by the
US Bureau of Labor Statistics is in jobs which
involve night and weekend shifts.

Method of the Study
• Semi-structured interviews with 22 participants
who experienced a ‘developmental crisis’
between the ages of 25 and 40
• Crisis must have concluded one year ago or
more
• A ‘composite’ qualitative analysis (Robinson and
Smith, in press)
• Ethics: all names and identifying information
changed. Anonymity rigorously protected

Results: The crisis process
• Crisis episodes showed a common process
• 4 Phases to crisis episodes
– Phase 1 – ‘Locked In’
– Phase 2 – ‘Separation’ (from job, relationship
or both)
– Phase 3 – ‘Exploration’
– Phase 4 – ‘Re-Equilibration’
• Identity transitions observed in all 22
participants

Results: identity shifts
• Before the crisis:
– participants described their identity as bound into an
established discourse of conventionality, a traditional
sense of masculinity or femininity and a singular
career role
– Externally structured identity; defined by roles and
rules
• After the crisis:
– alternative and fluid identities are explored, and
identity is less defined by role and institution
– Internally-directed identity; defined by values,
aspirations and potentials
Summary of Results
• Pre-crisis young adults are generally in
traditional and stable roles
• Post-crisis the change is invariably in the
direction of flexible or non-conventional
alternatives, often non-marital relationships,
often multiple or freelance careers, and less
stereotypical gender identity
• Can these be considered as parts of the same
identity “position leap”?
CONVENTIONAL POST-CONVENTIONAL ?
FALSE AUTHENTIC ?

Conclusions
• Identity transitions or “position leaps”
reflect larger cultural transitions (and
arguably contribute to them too)
• These findings support dialogical self
theory as a meta-theory for understanding
the dynamics of human identity
• More research using a dialogical self
approach to identity transitions is needed

References
• Hermans, H. (2001). The Dialogical Self: Toward a
Theory of Personal and Cultural Positioning. Culture and
Psychology, 7, 243-281.
• Robinson, O.C. and Smith, J.A. (in press). Investigating
the Form and Dynamics of Crisis Episodes in Early
Adulthood: The Application of a Composite Qualitative
Method. Qualitative Research in Psychology.
For further information:
• Contact Oliver Robinson, o.c.robinson@gre.ac.uk