Let’s Review

LESSON 2
The Self from Sociological Perspective

● In sociology, the self is a

product of contact with the
social world.
 The Sociologists

George Mead Charles Horton Henri Tajfel

Cooley

Ervin Goffman Kenneth Gergen

Which sociologist said

We wear masks and

perform different roles.
Which sociologist said

We wear masks and

perform different roles.

Ervin Goffman
Which sociologist believed that

What you are is a result of

what you think how others
perceive you.
Which sociologist said

What you are is a result of

what you think how others
perceive you.
Charles Horton
Cooley
Which sociologist said

Your group gives you your

identity.
Which sociologist said

Your group gives you your

identity.

Henri Tajfel
Which sociologist said

You have an “I”, your genuine self

and “me”, the self you use for
others.
Which sociologist said

You have an “I”, your genuine

self and “me”, the self you
use for others.
George Mead
Which sociologist said

People today have

multiple personalities due
to social media exposure.
Which sociologist said

People today have multiple

personalities due to social
media exposure.
Kenneth Gergen
 Anthropological
Perspectives of Self
Lesson 3
Learning Outcomes

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

● examine the perspectives of modern anthropologists on

the concept of self

● explain how culture affects or shapes one’s identity

● define one’s cultural identity

Come and Share!

● Is there a superior race?

● How do you feel about being a

Filipino?
Anthropology
● derived from two Greek words, anthropos, which
means “human” and logos, which means “study.”

● seeks to answer this primary question:

○ What does it mean to be human?
Anthropology
● It seeks to study the self, behaviors and society from the
past to the present from the lens of both biological science
and culture.

● It considers human experiences as an interplay of nature,

one’s genetic inheritance, and nurture, the socio-cultural
environment.
 The Self as Embedded in
Contemporary Anthropology
Edward Burnett Tylor (1832 –1917)

● English anthropologist

● founder of cultural anthropology.

● He reintroduced the term “animism,”

faith in the individual soul or anima of
all things and natural manifestations,
into common use.
According to Tylor…
● The human mind and its capabilities are the same globally,
despite a particular society's stage in social evolution.

○ This means that a hunter-gatherer society would possess the

same amount of intelligence as an advanced industrial society.

● The difference is education, which he considers the cumulative

knowledge and methodology that takes thousands of years to
acquire.
Franz Boas (1858–1942)
● German-born American anthropologist

● Boas implicated that the self is not a

product of genetics but of environmental
factors.

● For him, 
○ Race and behavior are NOT biological
concepts. 
● In a series of studies of skeletal anatomy he showed that cranial
shape and size was highly malleable depending on environmental
factors such as health and nutrition

○ This is in contrast to the claims by racial anthropologists of the day that

held head shape to be a stable racial trait.

● He also worked to demonstrate that differences in human behavior

are not primarily determined by innate biological dispositions but
are largely the result of cultural differences acquired through social
learning.

● He developed his theory of relativism, debunking the prevailing

beliefs that Western Civilization is superior to less complex
societies.
Margaret Mead (1901-1978)
● American anthropologist best known for her
studies of the non-literate peoples of
Oceania, especially with regard to various
aspects of psychology and culture—the
cultural conditioning of sexual behavior,
natural character, and culture change.

● Mead’s work emphasized the relationship

between culture and personality formation.
● She proposed that culture and gender
roles play just as strong a role as
biology in influencing adolescent
behavior.

● She presented the idea that the

individual experience of developmental
stages could be shaped by cultural
demands and expectations.
Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-2009)

● French anthropologist and ethnologist

● Levi-Strauss theories pointed to a self that has

same building block of thought and system of
organization as the rest of humanity.
● His cultural theories are associated with the anthropological
movement known as structuralism.

● Structuralism used the analysis of cultural practices and beliefs,

as well as the fundamental structures of language and linguistic
classification, to identify the universal building blocks of human
thought and culture.
● It offered a fundamentally unifying, egalitarian
interpretation of people across the world and from all
cultural backgrounds.

● At our core, Lévi-Strauss argued, all people use the same

basic categories and systems of organization to make
sense of the human experience.
Brian Morris (1936 - )
● English anthropologist and professor emeritus at the
University of London

● Morris reiterated that the self is not an entity but a

process that orchestrates an individual’s personal
experience. As a result of this process, a person
becomes self-aware and self-reflective about his or
her place in the surrounding world.
● The concept of “self” is defined as an individual’s mental
representation of his or her person, as a kind of self-
representation. The concept of “other” in relation to self refers to
how one perceives the mental representations of others.

● A clear separation between self and others seems to be universal,

but the meaning of this distinction varies from person to person. At
the same time, it seems obvious that the relationship between the
self and others is also a function of culture.
The Self as Embedded in Culture
What is culture?

● According to Tylor, culture is that complex

whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
law, morals, custom, and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as
a member of society.
Two ways in which self is viewed in societies:

• suggests that each person is

defined as a replica of all
Egocentric humanity but capable of acting
independently from others.

• the self is viewed as dependent

Socio- on the situation of social setting

centric
Two ways in which self is viewed in societies:
EGOCENTRIC
The self is viewed as
autonomous and distinct
individual with inherent
characteristics
This type of self distinguishes
itself from others and socializes
by being assertive.
This type of self marks the
Western culture, particularly that
of Americans.
SOCIO-CENTRIC
The boundaries of the self is
defined by the membership of a
person in a particular social
group.
This type of self is into
introspection and deals with
others with reservation,
This type of self marks the Asian
culture, i.e. the Japanese.
● Cultural identity is a shared system of symbolic verbal
and non-verbal behavior meaningful to a group.

● Individuals use an identity tool box, the “features of a

person’s identity that he or she chooses to emphasize in
constructing a social self.”
Self-identification may be identified by:

1. Kinship - networks that connect individuals

as relatives

2. Family membership – obtained either

by consanguinity (by recognized birth)
or affinity (by marriage or other relationship)
3. Gender - the state of being male or
female in relation to the social and
cultural roles and synonymous with sex,
which is based on physical aspects.

4. Age - a chronological measure for

reckoning the physical development of
human beings 
5. Religion – a pattern of beliefs, values, and
actions that are acquired by members of a
group

6. Ethnicity - a category of people who identify

with each other, usually on the basis of
presumed similarities such as a common
language, ancestry, history, society, culture,
nation or social treatment within their residing
area
7. Personal appearance – the outward bodily
condition or characteristics, manner or style
of dress, and manner or style of self-
grooming, including, but not limited to, hair
style and beards.

8. Socioeconomic status - social standing or

class of an individual or group. It is often
measured as a combination of education,
income and occupation
 Some characteristics such as kinship, gender, and age are almost universally
used to differentiate people.

 Other characteristics such as ethnicity, personal appearance and

socioeconomic status are not always used in every society.

 Family membership could be the most significant feature to determine the

person’s social identity.

 Another important identity determinant that is often viewed as essential for the
maintenance of a group identity is language.

 In other societies, religious affiliation is an important marker of group identity.

Personal Naming
● Personal naming, a universal practice with numerous cross-cultural
variations establishes a child’s birthright and social identity.

● A name is an important device to individualize a person and to have

an identity.

● One’s identity is not inborn. It is something people continuously

develop in life.
RITES OF PASSAGE
● Changes in one’s identity usually involve rites of passage that
prepare individuals for new roles from one stage of life to another.

THREE PHASES
1. Separation Phase - people detach from their former identity to
another
2. Liminality Phase – a person transitions from one identity to another
3. Incorporation Phase – the change in one’s status is officially
incorporated.
The Dark Side of Cultural Identities

Cultural identities have its dark side. It can lead to any one of
the following three:
○ Stereotyping

○ Prejudice

○ Ethnocentricity
Stereotyping
● is a form of categorization containing perceiver’s knowledge, beliefs,
and expectancies about particular collections of people. It can be
learned in a variety of ways:
 from parents

 from peers

 from religious, social groups

 from mass media

 from fear of difference

Prejudice
● comprises deep negative feelings associated with a particular group;
irrational (inflexible) generalizations with little or no direct evidence. It
is directed at specific groups (social class, sex, sexual orientation,
age, political affiliation, race, ethnicity) and involves evaluative
dimension.

Ethnocentricity
● is the notion that one’s own culture is superior to any other. We are
ethnocentric when we view other cultures through the narrow lens of
our own culture.