From a
sociologic perspective, Professor Jacques Paitra announced in 2004 the raise of
the ‘society of autonomy’. He depicts a modern society on which individual
temps to gain autonomy and become vibrant social players, by taking initiative
of all kind to fitful their passion and aspiration. With the raise of social
networking Paitra’s prediction has never been so truth. Any individual in the
world today can manage his social network at the finger touch connect with
their pairs and create vibrant projects. That new social construction is impacting
politic, social and economy.
The
definition of “Self” is continuously involving and studied by anthropologist,
sociologist and philosopher to the benefits of corporate and society leader. The
University of Toronto promote extensive research with regard to the hybridity
of the contemporary culture. “Hybridity, neither stranger nor familiar” was the
name of an international research project they conducted in 2010.
The amount
of research dedicated to the theory of self are still limited and mostly explorative.
Here is a personal finding I have been using for the past 6 years to justify my
research process is several projects.
Self-identity
involve with the development of technologies and society. Here is a chronology
of ‘self’ identification moving from Nation to Tribe and then Avatar from 1938
till date. It may be representative of the evolution of “self” in the
contemporary culture.
Nation: Individuals identify themselves
with respect to their culture, religion and nation. The boundary of
identification is clear and structured. I associate the date of 1938 to the
creation of the Volkswagen Coccinelle by Ferdinand Porsche who represents le
National-Socialism of Hitler. The notion of ‘Self’ is therefore associate to
the nation, its code and artefacts.
Tribe: As globalisation took place the
term “tribe” were extensively used to describe connected individuals across the
globe who share the same values regardless their nation and culture. The
boundary of identification is fuzzy by nature since people come from diversified
cultural background to embrace new code and value. The date of 1968 refers to
the social revolution during which traditional values have been questioned. The
hippie formed communities with new ideal of society. The notion of community
identification still remains important.
Avatar: As people get extensively exposed
to hybrid identity, they self-identification involve rapidly and deeply. This
is accentuated by the culture of autonomy described by Paitra. The Generation Z
require instant way of responding to identity issues and temps to fall into “Avatar”
identity. The avatar is a unique individual who change his identity and the way
he present himself instantly with regard to environment and life situation. Initially
popularized by video games, the avatar culture takes all segment of the society
with a multitude of possibilities individuals can switch from in real world as
well. The avatar culture is bound to grow as geo-cultural distances continue to
collapse. I retain the date of 1992 for the emergence of the Avatar culture; it
is the birth of Internet for the general public and the beginning of 3D video
games with Avatar. Gamers have an active role on the world they project
themselves. Similarly the internet becomes a virtual universe of signs that
make sense to the user leading him in re-shaping his own identity.
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We are now
20 years, from the beginning of the Avatar culture. Since 2012, The MTV Show –
Catfish initiated by Nev Schulman beautifully present American people leading
several fake identities over the internet for years. It is not rare to find
people today who have no social connection with their surrounding and an active
social life with the virtual world. They may keep their real identity or been
‘catfish’ (fake identity). The fact is that people find online values that may
not be available in their physical neighbourhood. Without falling in the extreme
of fake identity, the catfish phenomenon is representative of changes in
society. People are more likely to lead an isolated identity within the hyper
connected world on which they find repairs more that in reality. The
development of ecommerce also encourages people in reaching niche markets that
respond to their personal aspiration.
Globalisation
both merges and singularises individuals in a contradictive effort. This
complexity of “self” identification is on the heart of every individual and is one
of the greatest challenges for the future of design.
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