LECTURE 2: THE SELF, SOCIETY, & CULTURE The Self & Culture - a child internalizes values, norms, practices,
- a child internalizes values, norms, practices, and social beliefs
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EXTERNAL REALITY
AND THE SELF?
How much of you are essential?
How much of who you are now is a product of society, community, and
family?
Has your choice of school affected yourself now? If you were born in a
different family and schooled in a different college, how different would
you be?
What is the Self?
The self is com m only defined as “separate, self-contained,
independent, consistent, unitary, & private.” (Stevens, 1996)
Is the self actually a private entity?
The self is always affected by external circumstances that bump
and collide with it. It is ev er-changing and dynamic, allowing
external forces to take part in its shaping.
The social constructivist perspective, then
- explains that there is a strong relationship between the self and
external reality.
- argues that the person and their social context are m erged, one
cannot easily be separated from the other. (Stevens, 1996).
- argues that the self is not static which stays constant through
and through. Rather, it is in a struggle with external reality and
m alleable in its dealings with society.
- the self has a social life and can be influenced. Therefore
m ultifaceted.
How can people be multifaceted?
According to M auss, every self has two faces: personne and m oi
Moi – a person’s self of who he is, his body , his basic identity, his
biological givenness.
Personne – the social concepts of what it m eans to be himself,
what it means to live in a particular inst itution, a family, religion,
nationality, and how to behave given expectations & influences.
- the self (especially the Personne) m orphs according to different
circumstances and contexts.
- the self is shaped by different aspects of culture such as
international relations, environmental/territorial concerns,
language/lingo, romantic relationships, etc.
The Self & the Development of the Social World
How do people actively produce their social worlds?
How do children growing up become social beings?
How do twins coming out from the same mother turn out to be
different when adopted separately?
More than his givenness, one is believed to be in active
participation in shaping the self.
Recent studies indicate that men & women in their growth &
dev elopment engage actively in shaping themselves.
M ead & Vygotsky
- “the human mind is som ething that is m ade”
- the way that human persons develop is with the use of language
acquisition & interaction w/others.
- we process information in form of internal dialogue
- therefore the cognitive & em otional development of a child is a
m im icry of how it is done in the social world.
through exposure to dialogs that will become part of his individual
world.
Self in Families
- while every child is born w/ givenness, disposition com ing from
his parents’ genes and general condition of life is a factor in
form ing self
- hum an beings are born virtually helpless and the dependency
period of a human baby to its parents is longer than m ost animals.
- in becom ing a fully realized human, a child enters a system of
relationships, m ost importantly the family. This is where the
person learns how to live & their selfhood.
- it is what a family initiates a person to become that serves as the
basis for the person’s progress.
- the child learns language and behavior from its family.
- without a family, biologically and socially, a person may not even
survive or become a human person.
Gender and the Self
- gender is an aspect of the self that is subject to alteration,
change, and development.
- from the point of v iew of social sciences and the self, it is
im portant to give leeway to find, express, and live his identity.
- our gender partly determines how we see ourselves in the world.
Society often forces a particular identity unto us by depending on
our sex/gender.
- gender has to be personally discovered and asserted and not
dictated by culture and society.
Pr epared b y: Ronuel L del Rosario
Sour c e: U nderstanding the Self
A l ata, Caslib , Serafica, Pawilen, 201 8. Rex Book Store, Inc .