Modernity, Normativity and Recognition

Abstract

The unsettling of relatively stable traditional social orders based on rigidly ascribed identities under conditions of modernity has produced a significant degree of insecurity in contemporary social life. As social hierarchies have become less fixed and social roles and norms have become more open to interpretation and negotiation, a myriad of struggles to secure durable positions in these increasingly complex contexts have emerged. These struggles are complicated by the prominence of principles of individuality on the one hand, and equality on the other, in ways which produce an array of tensions as individuals and groups struggle both to achieve equal standing and to secure social esteem as a means of enhancing their individuality. Changes in the gender order are an important site where these broader struggles over equality and individuality take place (Connell 1987; Lewis 2001).