Beyond barriers — discovering oneself and/or search for freedom

Abstract

This article considers the individual boundaries of the “possibility” of everyday life. The individual, cultural, and social restrictions that have historically existed and exist to the present are shown. Variants of numerous changes in people’s daily lives, allied to the life beyond the barriers which is associated with their individual lifestyles, their ability to overcome themselves are analyzed. The connection between subculture and the construction of the individual lifestyle beyond the limits of the possibility is revealed. The need for life “above the barriers” can be determined by the search for oneself and the desire for self-realization. This may lead to the need to restructure one’s lifestyle, to go beyond the limits of possible everyday life, for example, in bohemian or transitive everyday life. The positive and negative consequences of such overcoming, motivational and social factors affecting the changes in behavior and communication style, changes associated with the necessity to create life on new bases that do not always correspond to the personal capabilities are revealed. But the desire for personal freedom of self-expression can come across social barriers and preventions, and in that case life beyond the limits of the possibility is determined by the degree of rigidity of external pressure. Variants of such a life “above the barriers” of artists, writers, musicians are analyzed. New options of the “space of the possibility” provided by the digital society are considered, first of all, the features of self-presentations and posts in social networks. It is shown that some properties of social networks, primarily transparency, have an ambivalent meaning for an individual lifestyle in the new digital everyday life. Attention is focused on new options of the possible lifestyle, outside the rigid framework, but not in conflict with the main social norms. The necessity of analyzing the everyday lifestyle over the barriers from the position of harmony between the integrity and variability of the personality is proved.

Keywords:

personal and social barriers, space of the possibility, freedom of self-expression, styles of everyday life