Inequality, as discussed in the preceding chapter, is a distributional characteristic of human society supplying key markers of life chances from an early age as defined by such demographic and attributional factors as social class, gender, ethnicity, education, income, wealth and geographical location. The first signs of inequality's considerable ramifications become evident in childhood: kindergarten and elementary school set the scene for adolescence, where the different routes via vocational or academic education signal likely destinations in the adult labour market. This chapter turns to the individual life course attributes and life course processes from which adult identity is formed, paying particular attention to the consequences of the transition to a digital society. To what extent does the transition bring about shifts in what we want and believe ourselves to be in the exercise of our human agency and in achieving our aspirations for the future? These changes are addressed in the context of the three transformational factors of digitalisation interacting with different economic and social conditions, including growing nationalism, in mainly a European context. Our starting point is the construction of identity, focusing first on the idea of developmental stages as formulated originally by psychoanalytic theorist Erik Erikson. Next, we turn to identity as a life course resource. We then consider the transformation of the workplace and the labour market in the digital economy and the effect of these structural changes on the relationships of lifestyle, social class and identity. The chapter ends with the wider implications of the changes for young people's communication, and solidarity in the digital age.

Self and identity

The sense of self has long been of central interest in the study of human behaviour and development, embracing disciplinary perspectives ranging from history through anthropology to psychology and sociology. The concept comes in a number of forms with various extensions – self-concept, self-efficacy, self-esteem, self-awareness and self-presentation – quite distinct from each other but all bound up in the idea of identity.

Taking for granted that the last three of these identifiers are selfexplanatory, self-concept sums up the central features. The two identifiers following self-esteem express the possibility of unlimited aspiration as embodied in the notion of the ‘Ideal Self ‘.