There is a concept in urban sociology called the Third Place, which structures how you have your first place: Home, your second place: Work, and your third place, the Public Place; each providing a facet contributing to a harmonized life. It is fascinating to observe how people are finally recognizing it third place as the prevalence of taverns and cafes have been influential for centuries. There are parallels in the Third Place in the community and the “Third Place” in identity.
When talking to my contemporaries, it’s often that people fear their identity is being defined by their work. The corporate America scare has made it seem that if they get too involved in it, they would lose their sense of individuality. Whether that is the case or not is not the contention. However, it is interesting to see how people want to find ways in making a difference in the world or leaving their mark: a “Third” objective beyond the making of money and supporting oneself and one’s family.
To translate the places to aspects of identity, I would do so by constructing this framework:
- First: You’re physicality. This ranges from gender and race to aspects as position in the family unit and citizenship status.
- Second: You’re work: occupation, business; the methodology in which you earn and support.
- Third: You’re passions. This could be hobbies, amateur involvements, philosophies, and any other more intangible labels.
People are very use to the first two as a dowsing rod of identification. The third one is more subjective, but is what the current generation is striving to solidify. The Third Place is communal, it is familiar, not as solitary as the first and not as confining as the second. The third adds vitality and depth to identity, countering the impartialness or sterility of the first two.
But change is imminent. In the age where information has spread so freely, people have easier access to knowledge and study deeply their passions. Turning to informal professions and amatuer ventures, this phenomenon allows for a mixture of contingence in identity. User driven and created, this results in personally formed labels, the new Third. I use myself as an example, I consider myself an artist. Do I have a degree in art? No. Do I make a living doing art? No, but I enjoy it, I relate to it, and I create in my vision, art.
The phenomenon is becomng more apparent now, and we are just trying to figure out a way to incorporate this additional facet into a convoluted idea of who we are and what’s our purpose in life. It’s just a matter of how to handle it, and letting this manifestation ripple through our construct society. Room will have to be made and definitions questioned, but we are coming into an age where people will no longer be labeled by what’s on their business card.
