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This book shows how the individual constructs a self from the thousands of colloquial identities provided by a society´s culture, and reveals how the individual actualizes and sustains an integrated and stable self while navigating the sometimes treacherous waters of everyday institutional life.

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Cultural Theories of People Identities in Standard English Language and Social Institutions The Cultural Self The Self´s Identities Theories of Identities and Selves Theories of Norms and Institutions Social Reality and Human Subjectivity

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"This is the most comprehensive treatment of self and identity I have seen in a very long time. The clear, incisive, and evenhanded exposition by two master theoreticians and researchers should be in every social psychologist´s library - students and seasoned professionals alike." - Timothy J. Owens, Associate Professor of Sociology, Purdue University, USA

"This book is a broad, powerful statement of a new cybernetic theory of self and identity. It builds on earlier theoretical work in affect control theory, but is a distinct contribution at a different (higher) level of analysis. It also includes a cultural theory of people that operates at a more cognitive level, and proposes a new methodology for locating and describing institutions. This is a major new work." - Lynn Smith-Lovin, Robert L. Wilson Professor of Sociology, Duke University, USA

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David R. Heise is Rudy Professor of Sociology, Emeritus, at Indiana University, USA. He has also served on the editorial boards of five journals, including Social Psychology Quarterly. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Research Fellow with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and a recipient of Distinguished Career awards in three sections of the American Sociological Association.

Neil J. MacKinnon is Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, Emeritus, at the University of Guelph Canada, and Adjunct at the University of Waterloo, Canada. He has also been a fellow of the Canada Council and a Visiting Scholar at the University of North Carolina, USA, and has served two terms on the editorial board of Social Psychology Quarterly. His book, Symbolic Interactionism as Affect Control (1994), is an authoritative presentation on affect control theory.

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