Chapter 4: Cultural Elements as Means of Constructing the Continuity of the Self Across Various Spheres of Experience

Over several decades, adolescence and youth have been of special interest for social scientists, partly because these periods in the life course seem to correspond to the emergence of a relatively stable “self” that transforms a child into a full participant of adult society. A landmark in this respect has been the work of Erik Erikson, for whom adolescence is a period of exploration—a “social moratorium”—during which the person constructs a sense of integrity and self-continuity within a certain socio-cultural environment (Erikson, 1968). Subsequent studies have tried to measure various aspects of such “stable,” “integrated,” or “positive” identity (e.g., Kroger, 1999). However, not only have conceptions of adolescence and youth evolved with society itself, but, in the field of sociology and psychology, more emphasis has been placed upon the dynamic and heterogeneous characteristics of the self (Carugati, 2004). According to this view, the self is not seen as an autonomous entity associated with stable personality traits, but as flexible, dynamic, and heterogeneous.