Homelessness, Identity and Social Networks

Abstract

The internal sense of identity that people have, stretched over time as they negotiate their life course, is obviously profoundly affected by external factors, such as their gender, age, ethnicity and the actual material circumstances they experience (Taylor, 1998). These circumstances include their (often changing) employment, housing and relationship status. These external ‘real’ factors are in turn affected by different and sometimes conflicting discourses that exist about how these categorical ‘markers’ of identity (Taylor, 1998) should be acted out or what they ‘say’ about that person (Goffman, 1969) and the extent to which it adheres to integrative, normative passages (Ezzy, 2001). Referring to the work of Ricoeur (1991a/b) it has been asserted here that these external factors are also woven subjectively by individuals into an internalised, narrative plot, creating a cohesive life story, and with it a consistent sense of ontological identity. It is through the use of discourses that individuals make sense of their own and others, identity, as it is manifest through these external factors and ontological security is maintained over time. However this requires a constant negotiation as external factors and events outside of the control of any one individual continue to affect their lives in ways that they may not predict, and because others may hold different discursive knowledge about.