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Chapter 5 - Conceptualizing Cultural Life Scripts as Master Narratives

An Underestimated Tool to Explore Life Stories

from Part II - How the Environment of Autobiographical Memory Shapes the Life Story

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  aN Invalid Date NaN

By
Christin Camia  and
Annette Bohn
Edited by
Christin Camia  and
Annette Bohn
Christin Camia
Affiliation:
Zayed University Abu Dhabi
Annette Bohn
Affiliation:
Aarhus University
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Summary

Studies investigating diverse phenomena as life story development, the reminiscence bump, emotional and important memories, and future expectations across different ages, as well as experimental and cross-cultural studies, provide converging evidence that cultural life scripts are decisive for individuals to organize autobiographical memories and future thoughts, to draft a meaningful life story, and to navigate their personal future within one’s culture. Recently, researchers have identified cultural life scripts as a type of master narrative (McLean & Syed, 2016), but both autobiographical memory and narrative identity research have overlooked the potential of conceptualizing cultural life scripts as master narratives. In this chapter, we conceptualize cultural life scripts as master narratives, possessing the five defining features of master narratives – utility, ubiquity, invisibility, rigidity, and compulsory nature. Based on the background of the substantial body of research, we propose that conceptualizing cultural life scripts as master narratives can enrich and inspire research on narrative identity approach and autobiographical memory.

Keywords

Narrative coherencelife story developmentnarrative identityautobiographical remembering

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Chapter
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Autobiographical Memory and the Life Story
New Perspectives on Narrative Identity
 , pp. 89 - 106
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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