Why Change is Hard: The Power of Master Narratives over Self and Society

The possibilities of personal growth and change are embedded in American cultural values that center individual autonomy and personal responsibility for charting one's life course. These values infuse the scientific study of identity development, where scholarship has contributed to the idea that we are the sole authors of our own stories. However, the data to support such claims are sparse.

In Why Change is Hard, Kate C. McLean argues that the promise of the possibility for growth and chan...