Defining the Self in Terms of Power, Plurality and Social Embeddedness – the Model of the Agonistic Self

Abstract

The paper offers an analytical framework for conceptualization and research of the structure and dynamics of the agonistic self, relying on Hermans’ dialogical self theory and Foucault’s analytics of power. In a multiple-case study, 9 teachers participated in a two-phase Agonistic Self Interview. A deductive-inductive thematic analysis of the data yielded an analytical framework comprising 4 categories: Functions of Voices, Power Relations (with two sub-categories: Forms of Exercising Power and Practices for Exercising Power and Resistance), Types of Relations Between Voices, and Institutional Context. The paper offers the analytical concept of a strategic situation along with novel methodological tools for the research and analysis of the self as embedded in interpersonal relationships and sociocultural and institutional context. The psychological relevance of the findings is discussed in terms of relations between dominance and maintaining plurality within the self and relations between the stability and social contextualization of the self.