The self as a fuzzy set of roles, role theory as a fuzzy system

This paper shows how the socialization process (viewed by role theorists as a "role-person merger") can be represented and analyzed as a fuzzy (dynamical) system. Given a self-concept (a fuzzy set of roles) and social nor-ms (logical implications front roles to actions), an individual infers actions (through approximate reasoning). Given these actions, alters make biased attributions (about the roles in the individuals self-concept) that are gradually internalized by the individual. This feedback loop creates a fuzzy system (a role-space vectorfield) that generates a set of stable long-run selves (role-space attractors). I illustrate this general "endogenous-self" framework with a model based loosely on Tally's Corner; the analysis examines hotel the individual's long-run self-concept is influenced by a constraint on employment opportunity.