Cover; The Reflexive Imperative in Late Modernity; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Figures; Acknowledgements; Introduction; The acceleration of morphogenesis and the extension of reflexivity; The present study; 1: A brief history of how reflexivity becomes imperative; Different ways of being reflexive; Modes of reflexivity and situational logics of action; Morphostasis, 'contextual continuity' and communicative reflexivity; Morphostasis/morphogenesis, 'contextual discontinuity' and autonomous reflexivity; Morphogenesis, 'contextual incongruity' and meta-reflexivity.

Reflexivity and nascent morphogenesisConclusion; 2: The reflexive imperative versus habits and habitus; Introduction; The relevance of the morphostatic-morphogenetic continuum; Morphostasis-morphogenesis and contextual continuity, discontinuity and incongruity; The hegemony of habit depends upon societal morphostasis; Parity of importance between habit and reflexivity coincides with social formations which are simultaneously morphostatic and morphogenetic (i.e. situated towards the mid-point of the continuum); Increases in reflexivity depend upon morphogenesis.

Can realism and habit be run in double harness?Three attempts to combine habitus and reflexivity; Empirical combination; Hybridizing habitus and reflexivity; Ontological and theoretical reconciliation; Socialization isn't what it used to be; Conclusion: turning the tables; 3: Reconceptualizing socialization as 'relational reflexivity'; Traditional theories of socialization; The social conditions of the generalized other; Reconceptualizing socialization as 'relational reflexivity'; Relational goods in the family: their influence upon selection and reflexivity.

Shaping a life and relational reflexivityStarting to shape a life
defining what matters to us; The problem of configuring our concerns; Adducing a relational solution; Illustrating the relational solution; Conclusion; 4: Communicative reflexivity and its decline; Why the reflexive imperative cannot be avoided; Introducing the natal 'identifiers'; Is going to university an exciting opportunity?; Upon what does maintaining communicative reflexivity depend?; 'Identifiers' and family relations; The hard work of staying close; Home friends versus university friends.

Career planning and the difficulties of shaping a lifeThe suspension of communicative reflexivity; Conclusion; 5: Autonomous reflexivity: the new spirit of social enterprise; Family lives: receiving 'mixed messages' and responding to them; Friendships and relationships: sources of diversion or deflection?; Careers: the new spirit of social enterprise; Conclusion: the future of autonomous reflexivity; 6: Meta-reflexives: critics of market and state; Family tensions and meta-reflexivity; Meta-reflexives and the challenge of friendship.