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Face, Accounts, and Schemes in the Context of Relationship Breakups
Author(s) -
Doering Jan
Publication year - 2010
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.2010.33.1.71
Subject(s) - narrative , externalization , context (archaeology) , harm , social psychology , identity (music) , sociology , epistemology , perspective (graphical) , romance , psychology , perception , computer science , aesthetics , history , psychoanalysis , philosophy , linguistics , artificial intelligence , archaeology
This article investigates account strategies that individuals employ to neutralize identity threats caused by breakups from romantic relationships. I distinguish three narrative frames for such accounts: dumper, dumpee, and consensus narratives. Individuals who employ a consensus narrative frame provide accounts by default: they deny that any harm was done to anyone. Dumpers dismissed the breakup's conflictuality, used externalization strategies, and depicted themselves as empathetic. Dumpees used externalization strategies and denials of injury, emphasized their agency, and pointed out valuable changes of self. I then analyze the results from a phenomenological perspective to identify connections between accounting practices and the structure of the self. I argue that accounting for traumatic breakups is important for the development of schemes that guide perception, action, and the interpretation of biography.