This work offers a novel and challenging interpretation of the
nature of the self. In opposition to currently fashionable
theories, Wiley argues that the self is an integral and autonomous
entity. The self is interpreted as a semiotic structure and on this
basis the author presents an original analysis of the origins of
self-identity. The book draws particularly upon two philosophical
sources: the writings of Charles Sanders Peirce and George Herbert
Mead. The result is a "trialogical" model in which the present self
("I") talks to the future self ("you") about the past self ("me").
A distinctive feature of Wiley's view is that there is a
mutually-supportive relation between the self and democracy, a view
which he traces through American history.

Providing as it does a means of interpreting the politics of
identity in relation to such issues as class, gender, ethnicity,
religion and sexual orientation, this book will stimulate wide
interest.