Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Defying the stereotype
- 2 The potential of social identity theory
- 3 On the subject of subjectivity
- 4 Personal stories
- 5 A nation in turmoil: Britain between the wars
- 6 Radicalization: coming to commitment
- 7 Political conviction and the social self
- 8 Growing into socialism
- Conclusion: aging and sustained purpose
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
7 - Political conviction and the social self
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Defying the stereotype
- 2 The potential of social identity theory
- 3 On the subject of subjectivity
- 4 Personal stories
- 5 A nation in turmoil: Britain between the wars
- 6 Radicalization: coming to commitment
- 7 Political conviction and the social self
- 8 Growing into socialism
- Conclusion: aging and sustained purpose
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
There is no such thing as cowardly temperament… A coward is defined by the deed that he has done… the coward makes himself cowardly, the hero makes himself heroic… What counts is the total commitment, and it is not by a particular case or particular action that you are committed altogether.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1956: 301–302)We have just seen how respondents became radicalized; through their words, we entered a period of time which was far different from our own. Indeed, in the political climate of the present day, it is difficult to imagine what it must have been like to walk down the street, listening to orators on the corner, people who were well versed in Marxist theory and who were explaining existing conditions in a highly political and accessible way. In the 1990s, it takes a leap of imagination to picture the existence of a group such as the Left Book Club, let alone the huge popularity it enjoyed. All of this and more makes that period seem a long time ago – and perhaps it was.
But some of the people who were active then are active now – their commitment has persisted across the years that divide that time from this. The story of political commitment which began at that time was to be, for some, a long story indeed, a story which would last the whole of a lifetime.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Lifetimes of CommitmentAgeing, Politics, Psychology, pp. 141 - 172Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1991