UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

by John Matthew Fulgencio

The Material Self
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

• Identities can be reflected on the

possessions that people have. Some
research are identified and drawn upon
I HAVE, in developing this concept which the
THEREFORE concept is from consumer behavior.
I AM
• People are likely to purchase products
that can relate to their personality.

• Possessions, tell a lot about their

owners.
 3 I Shop, Therefore I am

The decisions that go into the purchase of items and certain

services is dependent on a number of factors…
However, the most important factor is determining whether these items and services fall
under:
• Wants. Synonymous with luxuries.
• Needs. These are important for survival.

In the process of acquiring material goods, people generally consider 2 things:

• Utility. Concerned with how things serve a practical purpose.
• Significance. Concerned with the meaning assigned to the object. It is also
concerned with how objects become powerful symbols or icons of habit and ritual
which can be quite separate from their primary function.

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3 I Shop, Therefore I am

John Heskett
• British writer and lecturer on the economic,
political, cultural and human value of industrial
design

Insert Photo Here “design combines ‘need’ and ‘desire’ in the form
of a practical object that can also reflect the
user’s identity and aspirations through its form
and decoration.”

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3 I Shop, Therefore I am

Roland Barthes
(1915 – 1980)

• French theorist.

• One of the first to observe the relationship that

people have with objects.
Insert Photo Here

• In the 1950s, he popularized the field of

Semiology (the study of objects as signs). A sign
is anything that conveys meaning.

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3 I Shop, Therefore I am

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FIELD OF SEMIOLOGY
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 3 I Shop, Therefore I am

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 is concluded by William James who laid the foundations for modern conceptions of help, he
said that “a man’s self is the sum total of all the he can call his, not only his body and his
psychic powers…”

In addition, material self can be explained in understanding self-extension. That is, both good and
bad aspects of objects are seen to attach to people through their physical contact or proximity.

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3 I Shop, Therefore I am

The Theory of the meaning of material possession suggest

that material goods can fulfill a range of

Content no. Content no.

CATEGORICAL FUNCTIONS
INSTRUMENTAL
3. Categorical functions

01 1. Instrumental functions relate

to the functional properties of a
product.
03 refers to the extent to which
material possessions may be
used to communicate group
membership or status.

Content no. SOCIAL SYMBOLIC Content no.

4. SELF-EXPRESSION
2. Social symbolic function
02 signifies personal qualities,
social standing, group affiliation
and gender role.
03 Self-expression
functions reflect a person’s
unique qualities, values or
attitudes.
 3 I Shop, Therefore I am

Also Objects or Materials as Process of Self-Extension,

which includes the following:
1. Ways of incorporating Possessions into the Extended Self
• Sartre suggests that there are three primary ways through which a person learns to regard
an object as part of self. One way is through appropriating or controlling an object for
personal use.

• A second way of having an object and incorporating it into self is by creating it; this view
echoes anthropological findings and Locke's (1690) political philosophy. This identity is
codified through copyrights, patents, and scientific citations that preserve associations
between people and their mental creations.

• The third way in which objects become a part of self is by knowing them.

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3 I Shop, Therefore I am

2. Goffman (1971, pp. 44-47) suggests six modes of

interpersonal contamination.
1. Violation of one's personal space
2. Touching and bodily contact;
3. Glancing, looking, and staring;
4. Noise pollution;
5. Talking to/addressing one
6. Bodily excreta.
a) Corporeal excreta
b) Odor
c) Body heat
d) Markings left by the body

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3. Maintaining Multiple Levels of Self

 Boorstin (1973) suggests, one of the key ways of expressing and defining group membership
is through shared consumption symbols.

 Emphasis on material possessions tends to decrease with age, but remains high throughout
life as people seek to express themselves through possessions and use material possessions
to seek happiness, remind themselves of experiences, accomplishments, and other people in
their lives, and even create a sense of immortality after death.

 Self-extension occurs through control and mastery of an object, through creation of an object,
through knowledge of an object, and through contamination via proximity and habituation to
an object.

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The Material Self
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

• Consumer Identity is the pattern of

consumption that describes the
consumer. Consumption has become
increasingly more meaning-based.
This develops the consumer culture. .

• Not all products a person consumes

CONSUMER become possessions. And not all
CULTURE products that qualify to be called
possessions become part of the
extended self.
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3 The Material Self

THANK YOU!
FOR LISTENING
FULGENCIO
Matthew
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