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Self‐Structure, Identity, and Commitment: Promise Keepers’ Godly Man Project
Author(s) -
Armato Michael,
Marsiglio William
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.2002.25.1.41
Subject(s) - identity (music) , construct (python library) , sociology , ideology , social psychology , identity formation , social identity approach , epistemology , collective identity , social identity theory , psychology , self concept , law , political science , social group , aesthetics , computer science , politics , philosophy , programming language
We address current debates related to identity theory and the organization of the self by examining how a sample of men involved in the Promise Keepers movement construct, maintain, and organize their identities. Our qualitative analysis shows that these men have undertaken a continuous project of gender identity work to become godly men. We find that the Promise Keepers movement provides these men with both the ideological and the organizational resources that enable them to sustain their godly man identity. This “master identity” becomes enmeshed with other identities and is used to modify and reorganize those identities, restricting potential identity conflicts. The result is a relatively harmonious self structure. More generally, we identify several criteria for defining the master identity concept and highlight its potential for advancing identity theory.