This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Abbey, E. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Circumventing Ambivalence in Identity: The Importance of Latent and Overt Aspects of Symbolic Meaning

Clark University, USA, eabbey{at}clarku.edu

Individuals negotiate identity through symbolic communications, expressing their own beliefs in relation to those that exist within the broader cultural context. In this process, individuals may simultaneously address multiple aspects of identity. To do so, individuals may rely upon both overt and latent meanings, sometimes using overt meaning to attend to one aspect of identity and latent meaning to address another. When one of the aspects of identity being negotiated creates ambivalence due to the co-presence of seemingly exclusive meanings about that particular aspect, the ability to make symbolic meaning in these multiple ways becomes particularly important. In this situation, an ambivalence-reducing circumvention of one of the meanings may be necessary, and that it can occur through either the overt or latent level of meaning increases the flexibility of the circumvention process, as well as the identity negotiation as a whole.

Key Words: ambivalence • circumvention • identity • latent • meaning construction • overt • symbol

Culture & Psychology, Vol. 10, No. 3, 331-336 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/1354067X04042891


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?