Self, Belonging and Social Change

Abstract

One of the central interests of sociology is the relationship between self and society, and in particular how social change affects individuality, constraining or liberating the selves that we can be. This article proposes that because a sense of belonging plays a central role in connecting the person to the social, it can act as a window into studying the relationship between social change and the self. Furthermore, belonging offers a complex person-centred and dynamic approach that avoids reifying social structures, but rather depicts them as actively lived. A focus on belonging thus allows a dynamic examination of the mutual influence between self and society, and of how everyday practices are both regulated and creative, and hence generative of social change.

A Simbologia dos Apelidos na Vida Cotidiana Escolar

“…However, the routine crosses with the rupture, the ordinary with the extraordinary (Certeau, 1984;Pais, 2002;Sandywell, 2004;Moran, 2005). The productive and reproductive activities form a process of dialectics between routine rhythms and creative actions in the everyday life (May, 2011). Even the time that works as a catalyzer to the social spontaneity, and despite its trend to restrain, cannot survive without its vivifying force.…”

Negotiating national (non)belongings: Vietnamese Australians in ethno/multicultural Australia

“…While there has been mounting interest in belonging over the past two decades, intensifying in recent years, (c.f. Probyn 1996;Hage 1998;Fortier 2000;Yuval-Davis 2006;Antonsich 2010;May 2011;2013), conceptual developments are yet to be widely applied to empirical research (Yuval-Davis 2011). In particular, empirical research rarely addresses the relation between personal or group belonging and the politics that govern it, a gap that this article seeks, in part, to address.…”

“…This 'sense of belonging' is often unconscious and seemingly natural, only emerging into focus when called into question (Yuval-Davis 2011;May 2011). …”

“…While belonging is generally conceptualized as a positive relation, it can also be experienced negatively as a burden or constraint. Conversely, non-belonging can be, at times, productive and creative (May 2011). People belong in different ways to multiple sites and collectivities, and at varying scales of experience, from neighbourhoods and clubs, to nations and diasporas (Antonsich 2010).…”

“…As envisaged by Hage (1998, 55), governmental belonging confers 'not only the position of cultural dominance within the field, but also…the power to position others within it'. Politics of belonging can play out interpersonally, structurally and representationally, and are dynamic across time and context (Antonsich 2010;Yuval Davis 2011;May 2011). …”