A practice perspective on the formation of identity and individuality: suggestions developed from a study of young teens and their clothing
The article discusses how a practice perspective, inspired by Wittgensteins concept of language-game, can enable analysis of the formation of identity and individuality. The discussion is related to an empirical study, in which Norwegian teenagers were asked questions about their clothing preferences (and that of their peers) through questionnaires and conversational interviews. Although clothing preferences could be linked to the different characteristics of the teenagers, comparison between the questionnaire and interview data revealed considerable variations in how each teenager answered. From a practice perspective, the diversity can be explained by variations in the different communicative contexts in which clothing preferences were expressed. Patterns emerging may in turn be explained by how certain communicative contexts are stronger in forming unified narratives than others. Examples are presented of how contexts influence the identity formation of these teenagers and show the extent to which their in/dividuality can vary empirically. The analysis suggests that it cannot be taken as given that young people are consistent in their relation to clothing or to other matters across contexts and that investigations into the extent to which they are may contribute to our understanding of identity formation processes.