ABSTRACT
Choice is an important idea in discussions of late modernity and individualisation. Giddens’ idea of the ‘reflexive project of the self’ (Giddens, 1996: 5) suggests that there are now more choices and options available to people than ever before. Life trajectories are not bounded as they once were by traditions and rigid rule structures. However, the previous discussion should make it clear that this argument ignores the continuing fact that some people have more choice than others due to their social positioning. The choice narrative also ignores the very important place of ‘unthinkingness’ (Shils, 1971) within ‘traditions’ and that some seemingly freely made decisions are so influenced by societal practice and opinion that they cannot be considered truly free, in Giddens’ sense. As Lukes argues, some powerful social norms may be so ingrained that conceiving of other possibilities for action is practically impossible (2005: 113). Choices remain limited by the past, by resources, by the society in which a person lives, including the influence of the gender order and the ethical and moral standards of the day. Yet the narrative of freely made and informed choice is powerful: Figure 4.1 shows the importance of thinking one has made a free and individual choice, whatever the influence of culture, ‘tradition’, and close personal examples.
