Life Stories: The Creation of Coherence - Hardcover

Linde, Charlotte

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019507372X ISBN 13: 9780195073720

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1993

Synopsis

All adult speakers in Western cultures have life stories argues Charlotte Linde, and the ways in which these life stories are formed and exchanged with others have a powerful effect on all of us. Life stories express our sense of self, who we are and how we got that way. According to Linde, we also use these stories to show that our lives can be understood as coherent, and to assert or negotiate group membership. These life stories take part in the highest level of social constructions, since they are built on cultural assumptions about what is expected in a life, what the norms for a successful life are, and what common or special belief systems are necessary to establish coherence. The life story, illuminated by this engrossing study, is a form of everyday discourse which has not previously been precisely defined or studied. It is an oral, discontinuous unit, consisting of stories which are retold in a variety of forms over a long period of time, and which may be revised and changed as the speaker comes to drop old meanings and add new ones to parts of the life story. The life story is a particularly rich and important area for study, because it represents a crossroads of linguistic structure and social practice. Linde's analysis is of importance to linguistics, as well as having broader implications for anthropology, psychology, and sociology.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This sociological study explores how people create and exchange coherent life stories, and looks at the psychological and social purposes behind them.

About the Author

Charlotte Linde is at Institute for Research on Learning.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 019507372X
• ISBN 13: 9780195073720
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256