ABSTRACT
Steve Biko’s narrative shows the extent to which there is unintended collusion between devalued and devaluers. It shows how human identity is created attitudinally, in dialogue and in symbolic interaction with others. The chapter provides to re-locate the notion of human value as the site of a dynamic struggle at work in society and in everyday life in exchanges between people. It suggests there is a social dynamic that operates in the interplay of being devalued by those with power and in the reflex response – latent or patent – reacting against it. The intuitive sense of human individuation is a developing process by which the person can form an identity through interaction with others who recognise that identity and offer approval and the means for expansion of the circle of social environment. The pursuit of a high value for people is a load-bearing driver in human action.
