MODULE: OVAL01 – UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

CHAPTER 2 – THE SELF AS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT

A. Explain the relationship between and among the self, society and culture.
B. Describe and discuss the different ways by which society and culture shape the self.
C. Compare and contrast how the self can be influenced by the different
institutions in the society.
D. Examine one’s self against the different views of self that were discussed in the class.

“Culture is not just an ornament of human existence but – the principal basis of its specificity – an
essential condition for it.”
-Gilbert Geertz

THE SOCIOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL VIEW OF THE SELF

Knowing the self requires understanding our society and its culture, and how it provokes us
to make decisions which are culturally influenced and socially constructed. It is one big chunk
in helping analyze our self-understanding. It is quite impossible to ultimately know the self without
comprehending the culture of our society.
SIR EDWARD B. TYLOR
Was founding figure of cultural anthropology, classically defined CULTURE as “that
complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, moral, law, customs, and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by (a human) as a member of society” (Popular Science Monthly,
1884)

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ANTHROPOLOGY and SOCIOLOGY, though considered as distinct disciplines, are very much
related if not intertwined
• ANTHROPOLOGY – is the inclusive study of the human race, its culture and society, and its physical
development (Heacock, 2009)

• SOCIOLOGY – is the scientific study of human life, social groups, whole societies and the
human world whose subject matter is own behavior as social beings in relationship with many
other people (Giddens, A. & Sutton, P.W., 2016

COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

Components of Culture - are simply parts (ingredients, items, pieces, features) that make up
a culture. These components look different in each culture.

There are different ways to break down the components of culture - below is one way.
1. Survival
a. food - edible source of energy
b. clothing - protective covering for the body
c. defense - tools and strategies used to protect people from
threats
d. shelter - structure used to protect people and their belongings
2. Education - the way people in a culture learn what they need to know in order to
be successful in their culture.
3. Transportation - the way a culture gets people and goods from one place to another.

4. Communication - the way a culture shares ideas and messages.

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5. Economy - the way people in a culture get what they

need and want.

6. Technology - manmade tools that make life easier.

7. Social Structure - who is considered important in a

culture and who isn't.
8. Beliefs and Traditions - the ideas a culture believes
in and the way they celebrate those beliefs.
9. Rules and Regulations - the rules that maintain order
in a culture and the structure that maintains those
rules.
10. Arts & Recreation - the way a culture spends its spare
time and expresses itself creatively.

TYPES OF CULTURE

• MATERIAL CULTURE – consists of human technology – all things that people make and use
or the physical pieces that make a culture. (e.g. cars, buildings, furniture, etc.)

• NON- MATERIAL CULTURE – abstract ideas and ways of thinking that make up a culture. i.e.
they are intangibles. (E.g. beliefs, values, norms and symbols)

COLLECTIVISM AND INDIVIDUALISM

• INDEPENDENT VIEW OF THE SELF

Also known as INDIVIDUALISM, this sees an individual as a separate entity in the community
who decides based on his own logic and is disengaged from the social matrix.

• INTERDEPENDENT VIEW OF THE SELF

Also known as COLLECTIVISM, this explains that a person sees himself as an integral part of
the communal group. Thus his decisions are always inclined to include his social sphere.

In individualistic value orientation, people are primarily concerned about themselves and their
immediate family. In collectivistic value orientation, people’s major concern is their in-group or
community. The in-group is expected to look after an individual in exchange for loyalty. The distinction
between the in-groups and out groups in collectivistic cultures in reflected in communication, for
example, in different norms of politeness. The in-group is vital for a person's success -- even survival --
and therefore good relationships have to be maintained.
Belonging to an in-group is verbalized in such daily communicative practices as greetings. In
some cultures, the greetings include not the person talked to but also inquiries after the well-being of
his/her family members. In Mozambique, for instance, a common question in local languages is "How
are you (in plural)?" (in Portuguese: como estão?). In general, the concept of the human being in

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collectivistic societies such as Mozambique is collective also in the sense that it comprises the dead,
the living and the yet to be born.

Collectivism and collective thinking is defined by Ethiopians as follows:

"Thinking that originates from the influence of a traditional society, where more or less everything
is collectively owned, where neighborhood’s live in unison sharing the pleasures and toils of life, and
where interests seem to converge and overlap. As a result of this, the whole community is so rigidly
tied together with socio-economic and cultural cohesion, that sharing the same idea and images, shelter
and neighborhood, images and feelings, stories, myths, values and traditional cults, becomes the norm"
(Vasko, Kjisik, Salo-Lee 1998:84).

Alata, Castillo, et. al, Understanding The Self. Rex Book Store: 2018