Professional Documents
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The Material Self
The Material Self
Lesson objectives:
We are living in world of sale and shopping spree. We are given a wide array of
products to purchase from a simple set of spoon and fork to owning a restaurant.
Almost everywhere, including the digital space, we can find promotions of product
purchase. Product advertisement are suggestive of making us feel better or look good.
Pat of us wants to have that product. What makes us want to have those products are
connected with who we are. What we want to have and already possess is related to our
self.
Belk (1988) stated that “we regard our possessions as parts of our selves. We
are what we have and what we possess.” There is a direct link between self-identity with
what we have and possess. Your wanting to have and possess has a connection with
another aspect of the self, the material self.
Let us try to examine ourselves further in the lens of material self.
A very wealthy person gave you a debit card and told you to use it as much as
you want to make yourself happy. What are you going to do with it? Make a list of what
you want to have. Write as many as you want. You can computerize or handwritten
(picture screen) your answers and send them to my email ad or as a private message
via messenger.
LIST
Analysis
Short Activity. Answer the following questions. Write your output on a separate piece of
bond paper. You can computerize or handwritten (picture screen) your answers and
send them to my email ad or as a private message via messenger.
2. Which among the items in your list like the most? Why?
3. If ever you were given the chance in real life to have one among the list, which would
you choose? Why?
4. Does your choice different from what your answer in question number 2? Why or why
not?
Material Self
Russel Belk (1988) posits that “…we regard our possessions s part of ourselves.
We are what we have and what we possess.” The identification of the self to things
started in our infancy stage when we make a distinction among self and environment
and others who may desire our possessions.
As we grow older, putting importance to material possession decreases.
However, material possession gins higher value in our lifetime if we use material
possession.to find happiness, associate these things the significant events,
accomplishments, and people in our lives. There are even times, when material
possession of a person is closely identified to the person, gains acknowledgment with
high regard even if the person already passed away. Examples of these are the chair in
the dining room on which the person is always seated, the chair will be the constant
reminder of the person seated there; a well-loved and kept vehicle of the person, which
some of the bereaved family members have a difficulty to sell or let go of because that
vehicle is very identified with the owner who passed away; the favorite pet or book,
among others that the owner placed a high value, these favorite things are symbols of
the owner.
The possessions that we dearly have tell something about how we are, our self-
concept, our past, and even our future.
Using/Applying/Knowledge/Application/Integration
1. Go back to your Debit Card Challenge List. Put a mark on the left side of each
item with the following categories:
B - if the item is related with your Body
C - if he item is related with Clothes
F - if the item is related or intended to your Family
H - if the item is related with Home
3. Make a reflection paper about material self. You may use your answers from the
above questions in making your paper.
Note: For this activity, write your output on a separate piece of bond paper. You
can computerize or handwritten (picture screen) your answers and send them to my
email ad or as a private message via messenger.
Research Paper/Essay
Belk, Russel (1988). Are we what we know? Accessed October 10, 2017. http://www.
writing.ucsb.edu/faculty/tingle/courseW2ACEREWE2.pdf.
Belk, Russel (1988). Possessions and the Extended Self. Accessed October 10, 2017.
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdocdownload?doi=10.1.1.588.621&rep=rep1&t
type=pdf.
Jirgensone, Austria (2016). We are what we have. Accessed October 10, 2017.
http://kennisbank.hva.nl/docuents/641720.
Makan, Sunil (2016). ELLE. 13 Celebrities With Insured Body Parts That Are Worth
More Than Your House. Accessed October 1, 2017. http://ww.elleuk.com/life-and-
culture/articles/a30167/marihcarey-jennifer-lopez-doly-parton-celebrities-
insured-body-parts/.
Watson, Cecelia (2004). The Sartorial Self: William James’s Philosophy of Dress.
Accessed October 10, 2017.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8333321_The_Sartorial_SElf_William
_James’s_Philosophy_of_Dress.
William, James. The Principles of Psychology. New York: Dover Publications: Assessed
October 10, 2017. http://niasconsciounesscentre.co/Courses/2015-
Readings/Signs of Self/03.William%20James%20on%20the%20Self.pdf.
William, James. The Self and Its Selves. DJJR Sociology. Accessed October 10,
2017.http:/mills-soc116.wikidot.com/notes:james-self-and-its-selves.