Reflection on 2/4 Class

No, I cannot say "Josselson Schlossberg" five times fast BUT...I wanted to add to my previous posts based on class last night.

DrM posed the question - "Is Josselson's theory a developmental theory?"
--Interesting. After thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that yes, it could be a developmental theory however, that is not the way it was presented in our text. It seems that it could sort of follow a line of development (i.e. someone could go from foreclosure to moratorium to achievement) however, that was not the way it was presented. -Furthermore, that wasn't what Josselson found. While some women did move from the original state they were classified in, many of them stayed in the same state they were in when she did her original study, ten years prior. I think GC (nice presentation!) also made a good point - that it's more of a "window" from which a woman develops. (Just as an fyi, DrM said the answer is "yes and no.")

I also found this theory to come from more of a "diagnosis" perspective - which makes sense given that Dr. Ruthellen Josselson is a psychotherapist and clinician! (As different from Chickering, who was an administrator.)

We talked about something Josselson found - that men base their identity more off what they do and what they know, while women tend to find their identity tied to relationships with others.

MJ pointed out that she saw gender differences in essay writing from students trying to appeal their admission rejection - males tended to write about their competencies and accomplishments while women wrote essays with more of a "life story" perspective that were often emotional. Hmm. This got me thinking that perhaps the gender of the person reading these essays may (or may not) make a difference. Maybe a female would be more partial to the woman's story???

It is important to remember that this is more of a 70's perspective on gender identity. I think some guys I know find their interpersonal relationships to be important to their identity and that some females might find their knowledge and competence to be as important as their relationships in the way they develop their identity. Perhaps the shift in women's roles over the last 30-40 years (i.e. the "working mom" - and the idea that a female can be the "breadwinner" of a family) might make a difference. It's kind of the chicken and the egg thing. Does your generation strongly influence your identity? Or do the shift/change in perspective of people define the generation?