I just had one of those thoughts that makes me go yay! Y’know – when something clicks and things make a bit more sense.

Postmodern theorists constantly refer to the fragmentation of the individual, seeing it as a modern day crises. This has always bothered me because the individual is not inherently fragmented, only their social presentation of self, or their social identity. The individual has a coherent sense of self, yet they negotiate multiple social selves depending on a given context. With little consciousness, people can quickly evaluate the context of a given situation, determine which facet of their identity they wish to convey, and construct a face from which to perform this identity.

The crises of self doesn’t come from the fragmentation, but the increasing loss of control over the contexts of a given situation. Technology has made it possible such that contexts collapse – spacial, temporal and personal. People don’t know how to properly perform their social identity because they’re not sure to whom and for when they are performing. Architectural cues no longer indicate what is appropriate – are they being recorded? at what time is this conversation being had? Contexts are collapsing.

One place where this is increasingly obvious is in fashion. Postmodern theorists see fashion as proof that the people are in a crises state. There are no longer social rules for when to wear what clothing, retro has gotten to a point where it’s nuovo, and fashion looks like the collapsing of all time, fabrics, and social roles. Perhaps this is not a crises in the individual, but a recognization that contemporary society flaunts collapsed contexts.

Yet while we hail such collapsing, we are simultaneously confused by it, particularly as we have increasingly separate roles in our lives. Society requires us to present an acceptable social identity in all situations, but in a collapsed world, this means presenting an identity that is uniformly acceptable, across all time/space/people. Such requires homogeneity. Perhaps the crises in the self is a rebellion against such a generic norm, where there is no individuality. People aren’t afraid of their fragmentation, they are afraid of the collapse of it.