Internalizing what? Internalizing how? Time and Space in Metaphors of Inner Life
Internalization refers to the process by which external realities – mediated through language, culture, and other forms of collective communication – are absorbed into one’s sense of self. Over the past few decades, the concept has gained prominence as both an explanatory framework and a rhetorical tool in debates around identity formation and mental health. Historically, internalization has been used in varied ways across disciplines such as psychology, sociology, philosophy, and anthropology. More recently, it has entered everyday language and is frequently invoked in both traditional and social media.
In this paper, I argue that different forms of ‘internalization’ are shaped by different metaphors of ‘internal space’ and by differing timescales for the process through which internalization occurs. The guiding question for understanding what internalization is would be: how do people imagine constructs such as the ‘psyche’, the ‘unconscious’, or the ‘mind’—as visible or invisible, transparent or opaque, accessible or sealed off? And over what timescale is ‘internal change’ imagined to occur? This hypothesis will be assessed by examining three prototypes of the modern internalized subject: the ‘socialised’, the ‘brainwashed’, and the ‘traumatised’.
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