Three models of individualized biography

Abstract

The individualization theorists assert that identity has become a central preoccupation of human experience and one of the most important “variables” that humans may affect in order to live as individuals. For Zygmunt Bauman, Ulrich Beck, Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim, and Anthony Giddens, the breakdown of stable and coherent roles and status positions in late modernity has forced individuals to become actively involved in defining who they are and shaping their relationships with others. Contemporary individuals reflexively build and modify their biographies and identities in order to adapt to shifting institutional demands and cope with ever-present tensions in their lives. This shared emphasis on personal choice, self-identity, and reflexive biography has led several commentators to group the works of the different individualization theorists together, using umbrella terms such as the “individualization thesis” and the “reflexive modernization paradigm” (Budgeon 2003; Lash 1993).