LESSON 2: The Self, Society and Culture

I. With Philosophy, we tried to understand the self through individual terms.

 However, as time went by, from philosophy, several studies developed
 From Philosophy, emerged new studies to further understand the self.
 In contemporary times, the self is described as follows:
1. Separate – uniquely different from other self
2. Self-contained – with uniqueness comes uniqueness in thought, characteristic and
volition.
3. Independent – its existence does not depend on other self; it can exist by itself.
4. Consistent – its personality is enduring
- It does not mean that personality does not change but it only takes some
time before it changes; the change is not immediate
- Because of being consistent allows us to study and observe the self.
5. Unitary – it is the center of all experiences and thought
- It is in which every experience, thought or emotion is being recorded.
6. Private – it is isolated from the external world

II. A Self is private but we have to realize that a self is not alone; A SELF is most of the time in relation
to other SELVES.
 If we can understand the self in individual terms, we might as well be able to understand
the self in a social context
 Thus, we can understand the self in a wider perspective

III. From this, comes in SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM

 Its proponents argue that an individual self is almost inseparable from the external reality
 Because, through the external reality, the self can be known in wider horizon.
 Example:

CRIS

HUSBAND TEACHER FATHER SON

With his With his With his With his

loving wife students children parents

 Thus, the identity of the self is dynamic because it depends in his dealings with the external
world; its identity changes as the social situation changes.

IV. Remaining to be the same person and becoming chameleon by adapting to one’s situation seems
paradoxical.
 Marcel Mauss – French Anthropologist explained the phenomenon:
 2 Faces of the Self:
1. Moi – person’s basic identity; persons givenness
2. Personne – composed of the social concepts of what it means to be who he is.
- How is the self in a particular situation
 EXAMPLE:
“Tapat ko, linis ko”
This is a part of living in the Filipino culture to treat their surroundings as part of who
they are.
Thus, if the surrounding of a Filipino is clean, in can be implied that this person is also
clean.

Prepared by: Crisostomo T. Balneg Jr., LPT

 Moreover, because of this mindset of Filipinos, they treat roads as something not
separate from them; that they can cross whenever they want and wherever they want
But when they are in another country, they are going to become law-abiding realizing
that it is not their territory.

V. The SELF and the Development of the Social World

 In the previous discussion, we discussed how we know the self through social context.
 In this discussion we will be able to check out how can the self be formed through the
society
 We will not only be able to know the wider identity of the self through the society but we
can also see how the self ids being formed through the society.
 Man is believed to have an active participation in his development as a whole person
 Meaning, he is not just a passive being who merely accepts what the world offers to him.
 Language is the site where the individual and the social make and remake each other

i. Mead and Vygotsky

 They say that the way that human persons develop is with the use of language
acquisition and interaction with others
 When we have language, we can interact with others and with ourselves.
 It is through language that we can share our thoughts and by which we gain ideas
 Language also helps us to weigh everything; what we should do and should not do.
 They say that the human mind is constituted through language as experience in the
external world and as encountered in dialogs with others
ii. In relation to this, there are several factors that can affect the development of the self
 Nature – your givenness; things you immediately have when you are born
 Nurture – Environmental factors that affect one’s development

1. Self and the Family

- Basic unit of the society
- First to influence one’s self
- From genes (nature), to economic status (Nurture)
- First basis of persons progress
2. Self and Culture
- a factor next to the family in the development of the self
- Language can speak a lot about the culture of an area
3. Gender and the Self
- Determines on how we see ourselves
- Determines how we act in the society
- Boy is taught to be man
- Girl is taught to be a woman
- Gender makes an sure that an individual fits to a particular environment
- But it has to be personally discovered and asserted not dictated by the
society and culture

Prepared by: Crisostomo T. Balneg Jr., LPT