`I recommend this book to all readers interested in thinking about the self; I am sure that anyone who reads it will come away with some new ideas' - Therapeutic Communities

This critical and comprehensive examination of the relation of theory and identity discusses definitions of identity in classical social theory, modern social theory and psychoanalysis.

The introduction is a critique of existing sociological accounts of identity, arguing that these are incurably cognitive, treating the people that they study as incapable of experiencing an internal life or internal space. The book then considers the implications of this in social theory and human practice.