ABSTRACT
Two of the major perspectives on the nature of selfhood/subjectivity, namely the Frankfurt School (FS) on the one hand and symbolic interaction (SI) on the other, have generally taken little heed of each other. While SI has paid little attention to the historical context of selfhood, underlying typically unconscious motivation, and the socialisation of selfhood as part of a hegemonic process that maintains domination, FS has paid little attention to the myriad of social interactions that constitute daily life, influenced by self-conceptions – often articulated in self-presentations, etc. What is starkly evident has been the rapid change in attitudes, values and indeed subjectivity that has been taking place most clearly in the Western world and most clearly evident in the millennial generation that is generally becoming more and more progressive, environmentally sensitive, democratic, tolerant and inclusive. The historical transformations of selfhood have been most clearly articulated by Theodor W. Adorno and Erich Fromm. But since Fromm, there has been little attention to the nature of character change since the ‘marketing personality’ as meanwhile a ‘protean self’ is emerging in which plurality of expressions of selfhood (William James/Erving Goffman) disposes a counter-hegemonic constitution of subjectivity. This chapter explores some of the differences and potential connections between SI and FS.
