Self Identity: The Old and the New

In non industrial societies a persons identity is defined by potency, his or her power to act, to create. Identity is a future thing. In industrial society identity is made from events long ago, a school attended, certificates of this or that educational institution  a curriculum vitae, potted history of employments. The past drags behind the person like a cloak of chaos whether for good or ill. In failure mode the list is comprised of examinations failed, certificates not held, chartered institutions not joined, psychiatrists consulted, marriages ended, suicides attempted, the list is endless. The things that people did before industrial society to increase their potency, their ability to act on the future, are now barely tolerated: drinking, joining groups of a rowdy character, fighting to gain land or prestige, fighting to gain the best man or woman. Ego, strength, status and libido combined to create an individual who was located in the present with a view to the future. It is a vitalistic view of self compared with one that is categorically determined.