The name is absent

264

Many a late adolescent would, if faced with continuing
’identity’ diffusion, rather be nobody or somebody
bad, or even dead - and this totally and by free
choice than be not quite somebody (de Levita, 1965:31).

Erikson makes the same point:

Young people may find a greater sense of identity
in being withdrawn, or being delinquent (Erikson,
1977:254-256).

Manifestly, ’acceptable roles* in the Strelley community
are obtainable within the person’s inner means. Individuals
may, of course, not choose acceptable roles; however, they are
not pressured to attain to roles beyond their capacity.

Clearly, the world of the group provides structures for
ego-identity, which are reinforced by the fact that the psychological
model provided by the Mob is real to the individuals who form part
of it.

І6.2 Psychological reality within the socially constructed world

An exploration of the dynamism between psychological models
and psychological reality accepts that the test of the ’reality’
of a particular model lies in whether or not actors in their everyday
lives by their everyday behaviour, exhibit their assent to the
psychological model propounded.
t                ∙

It must be noted that a number of models exist in competition
with the particular model advanced by the Strelley community. There
is the model of (white) cattle stations, both sedimented and
contemporary. There is the model of white urban culture. There
is the model of the world of missions.

These models are explicitly rejected by the theorizing of the
Mob. They are not advanced as psychological models within which
psychological reality is to be found. Rather, these worlds are
nihilated. They are ’not-to-be-taken-seriously’ worlds.

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