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0 10-July-2020

Study Guide in GE1: Understanding the Self Module No. 8

STUDY GUIDE FOR MODULE NO. _8_

CHAPTER II: UNPACKING THE SELF

A. THE MATERIAL/ECONOMIC SELF
MODULE OVERVIEW

A person’s tangible possessions like his or her car, house, clothes, even family and friends make
up his or her material self. Regardless of how much or how little a person owns materially, he or
she will always strive to acquire more because material possessions are usually a reflection of
person’s success or failure.
This module starts with the definition of what the material self, how much do we value our self
and how the self is defined by what is known as the consumer culture.

MODULE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Determine the factors that contribute to one’s material / economic self

2. Understand the importance of self-value and self-worth
3. Analyze and evaluate one’s material and economic behavior that contributes to one’s sense
of self.

LEARNING CONTENTS (title of the subsection)

Many people work to earn money not just to buy basic necessities like food, clothes, shelter
and the like. People also spend money to buy material things that will bring them comfort,
convenience and pleasure. Some people buy things to earn admiration, praise and
recognition from other people while some buy things too represent their status in life. Many
people perceive material things as the extension of their identities. The attachment of
human beings to material things is influenced by many factors in the environment and in
the present times, is greatly influenced by the media. Some people think that acquiring
material things is the key in improving their identity. They assume that their participation in
the consumption of goods and services represent their material self as their participation
furnishes them a status and role in society.

I SHOP, THEREFORE I AM

Identities can be reflected on the possessions that people

have. Some research are identified and drawn upon
developing this concept, which the concept is from consumer
behavior. To be able to identify this consumer behavior,
people need to gain some understanding of the meanings that
consumer attach to possessions. People should first recognize
that possessions, intentionally or unintentionally, regard these
as parts of themselves.

As Tuan (1998) argues, “our fragile sense of self needs

support, and this we get by having and possessing things because, to a large degree, we are
what we have and possess.” This premise regarded possessions are part of self of a person that

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is not a new concept.

This is concluded by William James who laid the foundations for modern conceptions of help,
he said “ a man’s self is the sum total of all that he can call his, not only his body and psychic
powers, but his clothes and his house, his wife and children, his ancestors and friends, his
reputation and works, his lands, and yacht and bank account. All these things give him the same
emotions. If they wax and prosper, he feels triumphant; if they dwindle and die away, he feels
cast down, - not necessarily in the same degree for each thing, but in much the same way for
all.” If people define possessions as things, they call theirs, James was saying that people are
the sum of their possessions.

Two subclasses of the Material Self:

1. The Bodily Self. The components of this are composed of the intimate parts of
the person, it includes our body’s aspects such as physical (arms head, legs etc),
emotional (feelings, desires etc), psychological (intelligence, cognition etc) and
moral (values, beliefs etc). INNER ASPECT OF A PERSON

2. The Extracorporeal Self. Also known as the extended self. It includes the people
of great significance to us (family), possessions (house, car, clothes), places that
matter to us, products of our labor (job, handworks etc). OUTER ASPECT OF A
PERSON

Moreover the material self is constituted by our bodies, clothes, immediate family and home. It is
to these things, according to James, that we are most deeply affected because of our
investments of self within these things. The more we invest of ourselves in these objects, the
more attached we inevitably we are to them.

The innermost part of our material self is our body. Intentionally we are investing in our body.
We are directly attached to this commodity that we cannot live without. We strive to make sure
that the body functions well and good. That is why we buy food to nourish and sustain it, vitamins
to supplement its performance, cosmetics that will enhance etc. We do have preferential
attachment or intimate closeness to certain body parts because of its value to us. Hence, there
are certain people who get parts of their body insured like renowned football athletes David
Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo who both had their legs insured for $70M and $144M
respectively and Jennifer Lopez who insured her butt amounting to $300M.

Next to our body are the clothes that we use. Influence by the “Philosophy of Dress” by Herman
Lotze, James believed that clothing is an essential part of the material self. Lotze in his book
Microcosmus, stipulated that “anytime we bring an object into the surface of our body, we invest
in that object into the consciousness of our personal existence taking in its contours our own and
making it part of the self” The fabric and style of the clothes we
wear bring sensations to the body, to which we are directly
affected through our attitudes and behaviors.

Our immediate family which include our parents and siblings hold
another great importance to the self. What they do or become
affects us. When an immediate family member dies, a part of our
self-dies too. When their lives are in success, we feel their
victories as is it was our own. In their failures, we are also put to
shame or guilt. When they are in disadvantaged situation, there
is an urge within us to help like a voluntary instinct of saving

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one’s self from danger. We see our family as the nearest replica of our self.

Next is our home. As said, home is where the heart is. Our experience inside the home were
recorded and marked on particular parts and things in our home. As the old cliché goes, “if only
walls can speak,” thus the home is an extension of the self because, in it we can directly connect
our self.

HOW MUCH DO WE VALUE OR SELF?

Self-worth and self-value are two related terms that are often used interchangeably. Having a
sense of self-worth means that you value yourself, and having a sense of self-value means that
you are worthy. The differences between the two are minimal enough that both terms can be
used to describe the same general concept.
Self-worth is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a feeling that you are a good person who
deserves to be treated with respect”.

On the other hand, self-value is “more behavioral than emotional, more about how you act
toward what you value, including yourself, than how you feel about yourself compared to others”
(Stosny, 2014).

The self-worth theory posits that an individual’s main priority

in life is to find self-acceptance and that self-acceptance is
often found through achievement (Covington & Beery, 1976).
In turn, achievement is often found through competition with
others.

Thus, the logical conclusion is that competing with others can

help us feel like we have impressive achievements under our
belt, which then makes us feel proud of ourselves and
enhances our acceptance of ourselves.

Our self-worth is determined mostly by our self-evaluated

abilities and our performance in one or more activities that we
deem valuable. However, people commonly use other
yardsticks to measure their self-worth. Here are five of the
top factors that people use to measure and compare their
own self-worth to the worth of others:

1. Appearance—whether measured by the number on

the scale, the size of clothing worn, or the kind of attention received by others;
2. Net worth—this can mean income, material possessions, financial assets, or all of the
above;
3. Who you know/your social circle—some people judge their own value and the value of
others by their status and what important and influential people they know;
4. What you do/your career—we often judge others by what they do; for example, a
stockbroker is often considered more successful and valuable than a janitor or a teacher;
5. What you achieve—as noted earlier, we frequently use achievements to determine
someone’s worth (whether it’s our own worth or someone else’s), such as success in
business, scores on the SATs, or placement in a marathon or other athletic challenge
(Morin, 2017).

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SELF IDENTITY AND CONSUMER CULTURE

Consumer researchers have recognized for a long time that people consume in ways that are
consistent with their sense of self (Levy 1959; Sirgy 1982). Important thought leaders in our field
have described and documented that consumers use possessions and brands to create their
self-identities and communicate these selves to others and to themselves (e.g., Belk 1988;
Fournier 1998; McCracken 1989)

One increasingly powerful context in which individuals construct and

express their identities is the material and consumer culture we live in.
Having the 'right' material goods has become vital to many, not so much
because of these goods themselves, but because of hoped-for
psychological benefits, such as moving closer to an ideal identity, creating a
desired social image, and achieving positive emotional states. Having,
buying, and desiring material goods has a profound impact on individuals'
identities and their well-being (Dittmar, 2008)

Previous studies have emphasized the significance of self-concept and consumer preference, as
purchases made by consumers were directly influenced by the image individuals had of
themselves (Onkivist& Shaw, 1987). Sirgy (1982) defined self-image congruity (also often
referred to as product-image congruity) as the process of consumers purchasing
products/brands that they perceived as possessing symbolic images similar to the image they
hold of themselves. This theory postulated that products and brands have symbolic meanings
and display certain images. Consumers’ choices to purchase, display, and use the products or
brands helped them communicate the symbolic meaning to themselves as well as to others.
Thus, the greater the congruity between human characteristics that exhibit consumers’ senses of
self and the characteristics that depicted a brand, the greater the consumers’ preferences were
for the brand (Sung, Choi &Tinkman, 2012).

Purchase can be the consumer’s self-concept or identity. This includes both sans possessions’
self and the extended self, and is often the object of introspection among most consumers at one
time or the other. Although the concept of ‘I’ can include virtually everything a person ever come
to own and live with, a systematic list would include six components a. their bodies, b. their
values and character, c. their successes and competence, d. their social roles, e. their traits’ and
finally, f. their possessions.

If a person had to invest a lot of resources (money, time, energy) finding and selecting a product,
then to psychologically justify that kind of investment, people tend to view that product as part of
their extended self. For this reason, more expensive purchases, and purchases for which they
have saved for a long time are more likely to become part of the extended self.

Products thus can relate to one’s self in two ways: a. by being instrumental to enhancing their
self sans possessions’ and; b. by becoming a valued possession. As to the second role, product
possessions become part of self by six mechanisms described above: by self-based choice, by
investment in acquisition, by investment in use, by bonding during use, as collections, and as
memory markers. ING CONTENTS (title of the subsection)

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LEARNING ACTIVITY 1

Watch the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009). Write your reflection as to how you relate
with the main character of the movie in terms of spending habit.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 2

The Twenty Dollar Bill

A well-known speaker started his seminar by holding up a $20 bill in a room of 200 people.

He asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?”

Hands started going up.

He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first, let me do this”, and he proceeded to
crumple up the $20 dollar bill.

He then asked, “Who still wants it?”

Still the hands went up in the air.

“Well”, he replied, “What if I do this?” and he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into
the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.

“Now, who still wants it?”

Still the hands went into the air.

“How come you still want it?” he asked.

“It is still worth $20”, came the answer.

“Then, my friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson”, said the speaker, “No matter what I
did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It is still worth $20.”

“Many times in our lives” he continued, “We are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the
decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless.
But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean,
crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you. The worth of our
lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by who we are.” YOU ARE SPECIAL,

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NEVER FORGET IT!

After reading the article, I feel

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The story affects me in such a way that

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I know I am worthy because

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SUMMARY

The things we own are extensions of our self, they are reflections of who we are. When we
possess something we can see it as part of human development, but we should incorporate this
thing well into the extended self. We buy things necessary for our survival and development as a
person, but we also need to guard ourselves so as not to easily fall into the consumer culture.
We should be more conscious and critical of the things that we buy as not to confuse this with
materialism. Material blessings are fruits of our labor and success. All we possess may change,
vanish, and be rotten but the authentic self will remain.

REFERENCES

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