Chan, Melvin Chee Yeen

A principal claim advanced by many contemporary scholars is that the rising individualisation of life choices has led to the emergence of a new postmodern reflexive subjectivity—the “reflexive self”—that is compelled by necessity to make choices in increasingly de-institutionalised contexts. As a result, young people are experiencing more prolonged identity crises that may have constrained their ability to construct coherent identities. In addition, a number of postmodern scholars have claimed that identity formation is now dominated by a process of social saturation such that forming a coherent identity will become both less coherent and relevant. Other scholars are more optimistic that individualisation permits a greater scope for self-reflexivity, which can function as a ballast to manage the increased variation and multiplication of non-linear life courses.

This study investigates these contemporary issues of the self by drawing on an expanded taxonomy of identity concepts in a highly globalised East Asian context, Singapore. The theoretical review focuses on three theoretical perspectives on identity formation in the social sciences: social psychological accounts, sociological accounts (including the postmodern and individualisation thesis that have emerged as an influential characterisation of the contemporary self), and finally, an agentic identity capital model that focusses on the types of resources that individuals need to cope with and manage contemporary identity crises. I argue that the identity capital framework remains empirically underexplored in terms of understanding the unique processes and contents of identity and in its theorization of the agentic nature of identity formation. The thesis proposes an expanded identity capital framework that addresses the causal structure of sociocultural norms, values and practices (traditional identity formation), the ego and reflexive aspect of modern identity (reflexive identity formation) and mediated forms of self-representations (postmodern identity formation).

Findings indicate that Singaporean adolescents possess a coherent sense of identity that is multiply constructed across traditional, reflexive and postmodern identity domains. However, certain forms of traditional identities produced negative influences on reflexive self-understanding and certain forms of postmodern identities had moderately negative effects on both traditional and reflexive identities.

Overall, this study reveals that the agentic nature of identity formation helps to counteract a range of existential challenges associated with postmodern consumer culture. Construct validation with a number of 21st century outcomes indicated that the strongest relationships were found among individuals with an agentic personality, followed by reflexive, traditional and postmodern identities.