The profile of contemporary individuals

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.

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.