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IDENTITY TROUBLES
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0 In our turbulent world of global flows and digital transformations
2 pervasive identity crises and self-reinvention have become increasingly
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9: central to everyday life. In this fascinating book, Anthony Elliott
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t shows how global transformations – the new electronic economy,
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] digital worlds, biotechnologies and artificial intelligence – generates a
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g metamorphosis across the force-field of identities today.
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n Identity Troubles documents various contemporary mutations of
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S identity – from robotics to biomedicine, from cosmetic surgery to
a, digital lives – and considers their broader social, cultural and political
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n consequences.
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a Elliott offers a synthesis of the key conceptual innovations in identity
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f studies in the context of recent social theory. He critically examines
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y accounts of ‘individualization’, ‘reflexivity’, ‘liquidization’ and ‘new
it maladies of the soul’ – situating these in wider social and historical
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e contexts, and drawing out critical themes. He follows with a series
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ni of chapters looking at how what is truly new in contemporary life is
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having profound consequences for identities, both private and public.
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y This book will be essential reading for undergraduate students in
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d sociology, cultural studies, political science, and human geography.
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d It offers the first comprehensive overview of identity studies in the
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o interdisciplinary field of social theory.
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o Anthony Elliott is Director of the Hawke Research Institute and
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Executive Director of the Hawke EU Centre for Mobilities, Migrations
and Cultural Transformations, where he is Research Professor of
Sociology at the University of South Australia.
A compelling and original analysis of the impact of the digital
revolution upon everyday life, the self and the body.
Anthony Giddens, House of Lords and the London
School of Economics, UK
Anthony Elliott is one of the foremost scholars on identity. In this
7 new book, he builds on his previous work by taking into account
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0 the significant changes in this new century of modes of constructing
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l and performing identity. This book is theoretically sophisticated, but
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r Elliott writes in such an accessible and interesting way that readers will
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find themselves learning much about the complexity of contemporary
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0 issues, problems and practices of identities.
2 Deborah Lupton, Centenary Research Professor News and Media
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9: Research, University of Canberra, Australia
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] A really exciting and comprehensive dissection of many different
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g identity troubles in an accelerating, trans-human world on the move -
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Di a world of invention, celebrity and makeover.
n Professor John Urry, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and
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S Co-Director Institute for Social Futures, Lancaster University, UK
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IDENTITY TROUBLES
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2 An introduction
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1 Anthony Elliott
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First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
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1 © 2016 Anthony Elliott
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l The right of Anthony Elliott to be identified as author of this work
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pr has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
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Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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2 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
1 or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
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9 now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
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t or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
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] writing from the publishers.
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e Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
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D registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
n without intent to infringe.
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a, British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
ni A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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f Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
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al Elliott, Anthony, 1964-
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f Identity troubles : an introduction / by Anthony Elliott.
o pages cm
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t 1. Individualism. 2. Identity (Psychology)–Social aspects. 3. Globalization–
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r Social aspects. I. Title.
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v HM1276.E457 2015
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[ 2015015925
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d ISBN: 978-0-415-83710-1 (hbk)
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d ISBN: 978-0-415-83711-8 (pbk)
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o ISBN: 978-0-203-40222-1 (ebk)
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Typeset in Bembo
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D by Cenveo Publisher Services
CONTENTS
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r Preface and acknowledgements vi
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2 Introduction: Identity troubles 1
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1 PART I
at THEORIES OF IDENTITY 17
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g 1 Identity, individualism, individualization:
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Di three versions of the self 19
n With Charles Lemert
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a, 2 the theory of new individualism 48
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r 3 Identity weakened? the reinvention of imagination
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f in the age of globalization 68
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4 Experimental worlds: on posthuman identity 87
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t PART II
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r PRACTICES OF IDENTITY 109
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n 5 Accelerated identity: five theses on the self 111
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[ With Eric L. Hsu
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d 6 Drastic plastic: Identity in the age of makeover 131
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a 7 New global elites: on the new individualist arts of escape 149
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n 8 Digital lives, miniaturized mobilities and identity 168
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D 9 DIY self-design: Experimentation across global airports 179
With David Radford
References 201
Index 214
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PREFACE AND ACkNOwLEDgEmENTS
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r This book is intended as a critical engagement with current debates
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A about the status of identity in the social sciences and the humanities.
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0 Whilst it offers appraisal of some of the outstanding contemporary
2 contributions to the theory of identity – from Anthony Giddens to
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9: Ulrich Beck, Julia Kristeva to Cornelius Castoriadis, Zygmunt Bau-
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t man to Rosi Braidotti – I have designed the book largely to offer ideas
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] about the pleasures and perils of current identity transformations and
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g the future stakes of identity politics. I have tried, in Part I, to distil
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i the essentials of contemporary social and political theories of iden-
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n tity and, in so doing, formulate the contours of a distinctive account
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S of identity. The approach sketched here, in a necessarily partial and
a, provisional manner, draws extensively from my recent work on new
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n individualism, reinvention and mobile lives. I have further sought,
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f in Part II, to connect these ideas and proposals to the critique of
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a particular identity practices and transformations. I must apologize for
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f confining myself so rigidly to a particular set of empirical concerns –
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from cosmetic surgery to global elites, from digital worlds to global
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it airports – but this focus was largely determined by research into these
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e areas I have been fortunate to conduct with colleagues over the last
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ni decade or so, and also chimes nicely with topics students are most
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likely to currently encounter in their studies.
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y Most of the book was written during my tenure at the Univer-
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d sity of South Australia, as Director of the Hawke Research Insti-
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d tute and Executive Director of the Hawke EU Centre. I am grateful
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o to colleagues at the Institute, and particularly to former Australian
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w Prime Minister Mr Bob Hawke – who encouraged me to develop
o my research around an engagement with robotics, artificial intelli-
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gence and posthuman identity transformations. I wish to also thank
colleagues at the Hawke EU Centre, where I have benefitted from
ongoing conversations regarding the significance of mobility to iden-
tity transformations. Discussions with Dr Eric Hsu and Dr David
Radford deserve special mention in this context. I held Visiting Pro-
fessorships at the following universities when I was completing the
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PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
project: the Long Room Hub at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland; and
the Graduate School of Human Relations, Keio University, Japan.
To my respective hosts – Professor Juergen Barkhoff and Professor
Atsushi Sawai – I owe many thanks.
I also wish to thank the many individuals – mostly colleagues and
students – who have provided me with criticism and suggestions dur-
ing the last six years. I am especially grateful to Lord Anthony Gid-
7 dens, who shared with me his insights derived from early work of the
1 UK’s House of Lords Digital Skills Committee. Jeffrey Prager, Nick
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2 Stevenson, Charles Lemert, Anthony Moran, John Cash, Masataka
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ri Katagiri, Atsushi Sawai, John Urry, Ralf Blomqvist, Bo-Magnus Sale-
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A nius and Deborah Lupton deserve special thanks: their sympathetic
3 criticism has shaped the arguments I seek to develop in this book, and
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2 I am very grateful for their support and assistance. Gerhard Boom-
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: gaarden at Routledge, my friend and editor, supported the project
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t from its conception; I am also thankful to Alyson Claffey. Dr Ross
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] Boyd assisted with the manuscript in its final stages and was marvel-
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g lously helpful. I would also like to thank David Bissell and Thomas
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i Birtchnell, and many thanks to Emily Boyd for copy editing the book.
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n Nicola Geraghty, Caoimhe Elliott, Oscar Elliott and Niamh Elliott all
Sa contributed more to this work than I can adequately acknowledge.
a, The book was written between 2009 and 2015. Some of the chap-
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n ters which comprise this volume appeared in a diversity of differ-
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f ent contexts and formats, from conference papers to journal articles.
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al In preparing this book for publication, I have modified, expanded
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f or condensed material from some essays that have been published
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y in journals or anthologies; they are reprinted here with permission.
it Details of original publication are as follows:
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i • ‘Identity, individualism, individualization: Three versions of the
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U self’ (with Charles Lemert), originally ‘The global new individual-
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y ist debate: Three theories of individualism and beyond’, in Identity
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d in Question, ed. A. Elliott and P. du Gay (London and Thousand
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d Oaks: Sage, 2009), pp. 37–64.
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o • ‘The theory of new individualism’, in Subjectivity in the twenty-
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n first century: Psychological, sociological and political perspectives, ed.
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o R. W. Tafarodi (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013),
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pp. 190–209. This is a slightly expanded account of the original article.
• ‘Identity weakened? The reinvention of imagination in the age
of globalization’, originally ‘New individualist configurations:
Castoriadis and Kristeva’, European Journal of Social Theory, 14(3)
(2012), pp. 349–365. This is a modified and expanded version of
the original article.
vii
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• ‘Accelerated identity: Five theses on the self’ (with Eric L. Hsu),
originally ‘Social acceleration theory and the self’, Journal for the
theory of social behaviour, Advance publication online, First pub-
lished 22 October 2014, doi: 10.1111/jtsb.12072. This chapter
printed here is an extended and modified version of the original
article.
• ‘Drastic plastic: Identity in the age of makeover’, originally ‘I want
7 to look like that!: Cosmetic surgery and celebrity culture’, Cultural
1 Sociology, 5(4) (2011), pp. 463–477. This is an extended version of
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2 the original article.
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ri • ‘New global elites: On new individualist arts of escape’, originally
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A ‘New global elites’, in Sociology Antipodean Perspectives (2nd Edition)
3 ed. P. Beilharz and T. Hogan (South Melbourne, Oxford University
0
2 Press, 2012), pp. 486–490. This is an extended and modified version
1
: of the original chapter.
9
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t • ‘Digital lives, miniaturized mobilities and identity’, originally
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] ‘Miniaturized mobilities: Transformations in the storage, contain-
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g ment and retrieval of affect’, Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society, 18
e
i (2013), pp. 71–80. This is an extended and modified version of
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n the original article.
Sa • ‘DIY self-design: Experimentation across global airports’ (with
a, David Radford), originally ‘Terminal experimentation: The trans-
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n formation of experiences, events and escapes at global airports’,
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f Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Advance publication
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al online, First published 2015. This is an extended and modified
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f version of the original article.
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it Anthony Elliott
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er Adelaide, June 2015
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1 Identity troubles
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a, remarkable transformation in lifestyle options, work and employment
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f foreboding. Throughout the world, for example, breakthroughs in
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i robot economy being widely described as heralding a ‘jobless future’.
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e In Japan, robots now meet and greet customers at banks of the Mit-
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ni subishi UFJ Financial Group. These humanoid financial assistants can
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communicate in 19 languages and ‘read’ the emotions of custom-
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y ers from their facial expressions. In the United States, ‘home robot
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d butlers’ have been designed and tested; these robots can retrieve
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d and deliver objects, prepare basic meals and empty groceries and the
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o rubbish. In China, Foxconn – which produces iPhones and related
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o of over 1.2 million people with robots. In the UK, a recent Oxford
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University study predicts that almost 50 per cent of existing jobs are
at risk from robotics over the next two decades. Meanwhile, gov-
ernment education ministers around the world – busy implementing
policies of austerity – denounce the abstractions of theories such as
posthumanism in the humanities and social sciences as rarefied or cast
adrift from the pressing realities of daily life.
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