- Title
- Cognitive interests, epistemological space and aspirational identity: how does identity form part of construction?
- Creator
- Gajendran, Thayaparan; Askland, Hedda; Dainty, Andrew; Brewer, Graham
- Relation
- CIB Joint International Conference on Management of Construction: Research to Practice. Joint CIB International Symposium of W055, WO65, WO89, W118, TG76, TG78, TG81 and TG84: Conference Proceedings, Volume 2 (Montreal, Canada 26-29 June, 2012) p. 1177-1188
- Relation
- http://www.cibworld.nl/site/searchn/results.html?offset=20&wtgtype=W&wtgrid=6&wtgtypef=&wtgridf=&pth=&pthf=&year=&q=
- Publisher
- Birmingham City University
- Resource Type
- conference paper
- Date
- 2012
- Description
- The concept of 'identity' has been relatively unexplored within the discipline of construction and questions as to how identity forms part of organisational practice remain novel. Identity is often defined as the distinctive character of any given individual or the specific dispositions shared by members of a social group. More specifically, it refers to a sense of selfhood; it is an expression and a conception of how individuals or groups affiliate and it reflects a sense of being and belonging. Identity presents a set of generating and structuring principles, dispositions and structures of perceptions that guide action and practice. Practitioners will influence, and be influenced by, the nature of actions-interactions and the discursive practices of their organisations. It is argued that the epistemological nature of the space within which practitioner actions-interactions occur is critical in the development of identity. Moreover, the epistemological position(s) that scholars assume is salient in the narration of the socially constructed identities. In this paper we consider the concept of identity and relate it to construction industry through three key approaches: first, drawing on Jurgen Habermas '(1972) theory of knowledge and human interests, we consider how individuals ' identities can be characterised by their cognitive interests-technical, practical-hermanutic and emancipator-and how managers in the construction industry display distinct social behavioural traits akin to their cognitive interest; secondly, we couple the notion of cognitive interests with Martin 's (2002) three cultural perspectives-integration, differentiating and fragmentation-and explore how these may be perceived as three distinct epistemological spaces that represent a robust discursive framework for the study of socially construed identities; and, thirdly, we explore how, through the concept of epistemological spaces, propositions on the 'aspirational identity' of practitioners can be constructed. Through this paper, we argue that the concept of identity represents a useful analytical approach for exploring issues related to agency, interaction and discursive practice, and that it can support the study of organisations as socially constructed realities, subsequently stimulating further insights into the social dynamics that form part of, and influence, the practice of construction organisations. The paper also identities how this framework can be used in future research work on identities in construction.
- Subject
- identity; project organisation; cultural perspective; cognitive orientation
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1048789
- Identifier
- uon:14953
- Identifier
- ISBN:9782981335517
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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