II. SEVEN SOCIABLE CONVENTIONS - Routine Identity Maintenance

Routine identity-maintenance. British social-psychiatrist A.T.M. Wilson has suggested⁽⁵⁾

that a person tests and reaffirms his basic assumptions about who he is and what he is on every day of his life. He does this in part by observing that the world in which he lives is the same today as it was yesterday, and in part by observing that other people have the same impressions of him today as they had yesterday. It is the continuing set of responses received from others that gives stability to his world and to his image of self.

One example of such response and affirmation was the conversation that we termed routine identity-maintenance. The individual was seen realistically, in the context of his contemporary concerns and identifications, and the interaction mobilized esteem and affection within this context. Conversations expressed feelings of warmth between persons; explored recent activities, difficulties, or achievements; and affirmed the validity of whatever concerns were discussed. Conversations served not only to maintain the sense of self for participants and the friendly relationship between them, but also to give definition to the world in which they lived.

Example: Routine identity-maintenance.

(Report of an open house in a southern town. Report was divided into sequences.)

The people who were good friends living in town talked of their children and what their family had been doing the past few days. If someone was present who had not been around in a long time (like myself), part of the conversation was devoted to talk of changes in the town, catching the wanderer up on local news about friends -- houses built, children born, etc.

© 2010 Jeanne Watson Eisenstadt. All Rights Reserved
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