The Construction of the Self in the Time of Modernity

This chapter examines the relationship between modernization and the self, specifically how the basic trends of modernization influenced the shaping of the self as a unitary, authoritative, individualized and personalized subject. The chapter deals with the issue of cultural changes brought about by modernization as a context in which the modern self was created. In doing so, a distinction is made between the pre-modern and the modern self and attention is paid to the way in which the self is defined by the most significant authors of modernity. The chapter ends by determining the characteristics of the self in late modernity, more precisely in the period of the twentieth century.