Identity, life history and commitment to welfare

Jimenez, Luis; Mayo, Marj; Hoggett, Paul; Beedell, Phoebe; Miller, Chris

Abstract

Using detailed extracts from two life histories, this article examines the nature of the personal identifications that often underpin the commitment of welfare workers to their jobs. We explore the paradox that it is those identifications such as class and gender, mediated through individual biography, that fix the 'self as object' and that also provide us with the resources for self-transformation. In this respect, the article not only throws light upon the psychical and emotional roots of commitment to the other, but also upon some of the impasses 'identity theory' currently finds itself in. © 2006 Cambridge University Press.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2006
• Deposit Date: Jan 22, 2010
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 2, 2016
• Journal: Journal of Social Policy
• Print ISSN: 0047-2794
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-7823
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 35
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 689-704
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279406000146
• Keywords: identity, life history, welfare
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1036592
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047279406000146
• Contract Date: Dec 2, 2016