Jan 30, 2013
Thus we can only emancipate ourselves, in so far as that is possible, from the hold of habit by understanding historically how, why, and with what consequences such institutions and routines were formed. We may wish, we may choose, we may even be able, to change ourselves and the social structures and identities within which perforce we live, but we can only do so on the basis of the structures and identities we inherit from past generations. It is in this sense that we create ourselves, but not in the conditions of our own making. We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before.
Nicholas Garnham in Emancipation, the Media and Modernity: Arguments About the Media and Social Theory. Oxford University Press (2000).
