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25 - Political Psychology: Identity Development in a Traumatic Environment

from Part IV - Current Domains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2021

By
David Becker
Edited by
Michael Bamberg ,
Carolin Demuth  and
Meike Watzlawik
Michael Bamberg
Affiliation:
Clark University, Massachusetts
Carolin Demuth
Affiliation:
Aalborg University, Denmark
Meike Watzlawik
Affiliation:
Sigmund Freud University, Berlin
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Summary

Reflecting on psychosocial work with Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, this chapter focuses on identity development under traumatic conditions. Trauma theory is described as a clinical concept and as a discourse about morals. The limits of conceptualizations like post-traumatic stress disorder are shown, and the usefulness of the concept of sequential traumatization, especially from a perspective of identity development, is discussed. Lothar Krappmann’s theory of identity development is discussed and shown to be especially useful when trying to understand traumatic processes outside of the realm of psychopathology. An argument is made in favor of recognizing the potential of identities developing in an environment of destruction.

Keywords

Traumaidentitywardevelopmentvulnerability
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Identity , pp. 564 - 585
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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