From the social embeddedness of the interpersonal stage the person of the institutional self moves toward an ownership of self. Though there is a desire and willingness to be a member of his/her culture and community, this adult seeks self definition beyond the roles of daughter or son, mother or father, husband or wife.
At this point a person moves to a whole new level of self-actualized independence. For example, where s/he might have once been content to work at a job now s/he seeks to have a career. The self finds a new level of confidence and conscious self interest. As meaning evolves from socially accepted ideals, to personally deconstructed and revised beliefs, greater importance is placed on one's capacity for self direction in most aspects of life.
The institutional self becomes the I which conducts the many components of self and roles which one plays in the world. This affords the person a new degree of awareness and detatchement towards her/his environment, as s/he may now regard situations from a third person perspective.
| Characteristics of Stage Personal Autonomy, |
Culture of Embeddedness Public Arena, |
Confirmation: Supporting Stasis Internal Authority, |
Contradiction: Moving Beyond Emergence from |
