Barriers to Change and Identity Work In the Swampy Lowland

Abstract

Our aim is to examine intractability in relation to processes of change. Drawing upon data gathered from workshops, documentary sources and follow-up interviews, we identify an apparent contradiction between accounts of the self as change-oriented and subsequent inaction. We argue that the dominant metaphor typically used to explain such contradictions – barriers to change – provides an inadequate characterization of change inactivity. We present an alternative way of thinking about change in which the issue of self-identity is central. In particular, we argue that the very way that expressly change-oriented participants protected their self-identity was (ironically) itself an impediment to change. Finally, we offer an alternative to the barrier metaphor – the swampy lowland – as a way of conceptualizing apparent intractability in change-oriented situations.