The Self, Society, and Culture

Ella Mae T. Ronquillo

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 ➔ With the advent of the social sciences, it became
possible for new ways and paradigms to
reexamine the nature of the self.
➔ Thinkers eventually got tired of focusing on the
relationship between the two components of the
self.
➔ Whatever the relationship these two have is less
important than the fact that there is a self.
➔ New focus: The self and the external world
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 THE STORY OF TARZAN
➔ This story challenges the belief
that we are special because of our
soul.
➔ We may be gifted with intellect and
the capacity to rationalize, but at
the end of the day, our selves are
truly products of our interaction
with external reality.
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 If you were born
differently, would you
have been a different
individual?
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 What is the Self?
The self is commonly defined by the
following characteristics: “separate,
self-contained, independent,
consistent, unitary, and private”
(Stevens, 1996).
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 What is the Self?
Separate
➔ The self is distinct from other
selves; it’s always unique and has
its own identity. One cannot be
another person.
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 What is the Self?
Self-contained and independent
➔ The self can exist in itself. It has its
own thoughts, characteristics, and
will. It does not require any other
self for it to exist.
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 What is the Self?
Consistent
➔ A particular self’s traits,
characteristics, tendencies, and
potentialities are more or less the
same.
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 What is the Self?
Unitary
➔ The self is the center of all
experiences and thoughts that run
through a certain person.
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 What is the Self?
Private
➔ Each person sorts out information,
feelings, and thought processes
within the self. This whole process
is never accessible to anyone.
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 ➔ Although private, the clash between the self and
the external reality is the reason for the self to
have a clear understanding of what it might be,
what it can be, and what it will be.
➔ The self is ever-changing and dynamic, allowing
external influences to take part in its shaping.
➔ What is the vibrant relationship between the self
and the external reality?
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 Social Constructionist Perspective

“Social constructionists argue for a

merged view of ‘the person’ and ‘their
social context’ where the boundaries of
one cannot easily be separated from the
boundaries of the other” (Stevens, 1996).
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 Social Constructivism
➔ The self should not be seen as a static entity
that stays through and through.
➔ The self has to be seen as something that is in
unceasing change, in a constant struggle with
external reality and is malleable in its dealings
with society.
➔ The self is multifaceted.
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 This is Peter Parker.

Peter was a student.

Peter stayed with his Aunt, Aunt

May.

Peter could express himself in front

of his friends and his girlfriend.

Peter is Spider-Man.
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 The Self and Culture

Marcel Mauss
➔ French Anthropologist
➔ Every self has two faces: personne and moi.
➔ Moi is a person’s basic identity.
➔ Personne is composed of the social concepts
of what it means to be who he is.
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 Examples:
➔ A person who changes his/her mood or tone
depending on the one he/she is talking to
➔ Sweet and caring suitors who suddenly change
after the girl says “yes”
➔ OFWs who abide by another country’s laws on
jaywalking
● Filipinos consider their immediate
surroundings as their territory.
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 The Self and the Development of the Social World

➔ More than his givenness, one is believed to

be in active participation in the shaping of
the self.
➔ Most often, we think that human persons are
just passive actors in the shaping of selves.
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 “Language as both a publicly
shared and privately utilized
symbol system is the site where
the individual and the social make
and remake each other.”
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 MEAD AND VYGOTSKY

George H. Lev
Mead Vygotsky
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 George H. Mead
➔ Sociologist
➔ Theory of Social Behaviorism
➔ The idea people have of themselves
stems from social interaction with
others
➔ The self is a product of social
experience.
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 Lev Vygotsky
➔ Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive
Development
➔ The Zone of Proximal Development -the
space between what a learner can do
without assistance and what a learner can
do with adult guidance or in collaboration
with more capable peers (scaffolding).
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 Mead and Vygotsky
➔ The way that human persons develop is with the use of
language acquisition and interaction with others.
➔ The way that we process information is normally a form of an
internal dialogue in our head.
➔ The mind is something that is made, constituted through
language as experienced and as encountered in the external
world and in dialogues with others.
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 Mead and Vygotsky
➔ A young child internalizes values, norms, practices, social
beliefs, and more through exposure to these dialogs that
will eventually become part of his individual world.
➔ For Mead, this takes place as a child assumes the “other”
through language and role-play, and conceptualizes his
notion of “self” through this.
➔ A child delineates the “I” from the rest.
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 Mead and Vygotsky
➔ For Vygotsky, a child internalizes real-life dialogs
that he has had with others.
➔ They apply this to their mental and practical
problems along with the social and cultural
infusions brought about by the said dialogs.
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 The Self in Families
➔ The relationship between the self and
the social world was a struggle to
sociologists.
➔ So, they focused on the different
institutions and powers at play in the
society.
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 ➔ The impact of one’s family is still deemed as a
given in understanding the self.
➔ The kind of family we are born in, the resources
available to us (human, spiritual, economic), the
kind of development that we will have
➔ Human persons cannot deny the importance of
family as they learn the ways of living and their
selfhood by being in a family.
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 ➔ Babies internalize ways and styles that they
observe from their family.
● Language
● Behavior (respect, table manners, way of
speaking to elderly)
● Rewards and punishments
● Sexual behavior or how to confront
emotions
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 ➔ Without a family, a person may not even survive
or become a human person.
● Tarzan
● Babies swapping in teleseryes
➔ For the most part, one is who he is because of
his family.
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 Gender and the Self
➔ Gender is one of those aspects of
the self that is subject to alteration,
change, and development.
➔ Gender expression is one of the most
controversial issues in the society.
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 “I am nothing but a miserable crushed worm,
whom no one wants, whom no one loves, a useless
creature with morning sickness, and a big belly,
two rotten teeth, and a bad temper, a battered
sense of dignity, and a love which nobody wants
and which nearly drives me insane.”
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― Sonia Tolstoy
 Gender and the Self
➔ This illustrates that our gender partly
determines how we see ourselves in the
world.
➔ Oftentimes, society forces a particular
identity unto us depending on our sex and/or
gender.
➔ Philippines as a patriarchal society
(especially in the past)
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 Nancy Chodorow
➔ Feminist
➔ Because mothers take the role of taking care
of children, there is a tendency for girls to
imitate the same and reproduce the same
kind of mentality of women as care providers
in the family.
➔ Dolls and makeshift kitchen instead of guns,
cars, or any other toys
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 ➔ Men, on the other hand, are taught early on
how to behave like a man.
➔ Holding in one’s emotions, being tough, not
worrying about danger, admiration for hard
physical labor
➔ Circumcision - not only for hygiene but as a
symbol of manliness
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 ➔ The sense of self that is being taught creates
stereotypes, which is dangerous and
detrimental in the goal of truly finding one’s
self, self-determination, and growth of the
self.
➔ Gender has to be personally discovered and
asserted, not dictated by culture and the
society.
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 Activity 1 - My Self Through the Years
➔ In a Word document, attach a picture of
you when you were in elementary, in high
school, and now that you are in college.
➔ Below each picture, list down your
characteristics that you remember
(attitude, beliefs, habits, etc.).
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 Activity 1 - My Self Through the Years
Then, answer the following questions:

1. What are the differences you have

observed in all stages?
2. What are the possible reasons for these
differences?
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