The self-constitution and development of identity between recognition and violence

Eva Borst

Summary:  This article discusses the creation of identity within the context of recognition processes. Its central topic is the problem of failed recognition and its consequences. Based on critical social analysis and the premises of psychoanalysis, it attempts to define recognition as a constitutive category of pedagogy, while also focusing on the development of new media. It finds that the latter significantly affect identity development by disabling intersubjective processes of recognition and lead individuals to become internally estranged and thus inaccessible to pedagogical intervention. The more people lose contact with their own feelings through violent social mechanisms, the more the topic of violence gains importance, which eventually brings about rudeness.