Thinking twinship

childhood and the formation of self and identity

pp. 131-149

in: Elizabeth A. Stewart, Exploring twins, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003

Abstract

In this chapter the major areas of the discipline of sociology which could have studied and potentially contributed to the development of a comprehensive social analysis of twinship are presented. The accounts of the areas that follow are brief and necessarily selective. They attempt to simplify various schools of sociological thought and are not intended to go into all of the variables, intricacies and substantive debates which necessarily surround these areas. The accounts would probably not be acceptable to each and every theorist in each and every school of thought; in most instances, there is no single definition of concepts acceptable or agreed upon by all, and naturally ideas change over time. While the theories and concepts are presented below as separate or distinct, there are often constructive bridges between the theorists and the gaps are by no means as clear-cut as may be assumed. Finally, there is no attempt to criticize the theories per se: the underlying criticism of them is that they have not considered twinship as an area to be studied and consequently have failed to consider the implications of twinship for their particular paradigm. The major themes presented fall within the study of childhood and the formation of self and identity.