LESSON 2: THE SELF, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE

Lesson Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
1. Explain the relationship between and among the self, society, and culture;
2. Describe and discuss the different ways by which society and culture shape the self;
3. Compare and contrast ow the self can be influenced by the different institutions in the
society; and
4. Examine one’s self against the different views of self that were discussed in the class.

INTRODUCTION
People put a halt on speculative debates on the relationship between the body and soul.
Thinkers just settled on the idea that there are two components of the human person and
whatever relationship these two have is less important than the fact that there is a self.

ACTIVITY 1. My Self through the Years

Paste a picture of you when you were in elementary, in high school, and now that you are in
college. Below the picture, list down your salient (important, main) characteristics that you
remember.

My Elementary Self My High School Self My College Self

WHAT IS THE SELF?

 Self is always unique and has its own identity

 Self is self-contained and independent
 Self is unitary in the center of all experiences and thoughts that run through a certain person

THE SELF AND CULTURE

According to Mauss, every self has two faces:

 Moi- refers to a person’s sense of who he is, his body, and his basic identity; biological
givenness, this person’s basic identity.
 Personne- is composed of the social concepts of what it means to be who he is. It means to live
in a particular institution, a particular family, a particular religion, a particular nationality, and
how to behave given the expectation and influences from others.

Explanation: If the self is born into a particular society or culture, he/she will have to adjust according to
its exposure.

THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL WORLD

Recent studies, however, indicate that men and women in their growth and development engage
actively in shaping of the self

“Language as both a publicity shared and privately utilized symbol system is the site where the
individual and the social make and remake each other” – Schwartz, White, and Lutz 1993

 Mead and Vygotsky

 Human persons develop with the use of language acquisition and interaction with
others. The way that we process information is normally a form of an internal dialogues.
 Cognitive and Emotional Development of a child is always a mimicry of how it is done in
the social world, in the external reality where he is in.

Explanation: Human mind is something that is made or form by a language that is experienced in the
external world or in the society she/he belong. He/She encountered different languages/dialogues with
other people.

Example: Notice how little children are fond of playing role play with their toys. They make their own
scripts and dialogues for their toys as they play with them.

Self in Families

 The kind of family that we are born in and the resources available to us (Human, Spiritual, and
Economic) will certainly affect us and the kind of development that we will have as we go
through life.
  Learning therefore is critical in our capacity to actualize our potential of becoming humans. In
trying to achieve the goal of becoming a fully realized human, a child enters a system of
relationships, most important of which is the family.
 Without a family, biologically and sociologically, a person may not even survive or become a
person.

Example: The best example in this, is the TARZAN movie because the survival of Tarzan in the midst or
middle of the forest is already a miracle. His being a fully human person with a sense of selfhood
(character, identity) is a different story that he encountered or experienced.

Another example is the usual teleserye plot of kids getting swapped in the hospital and getting reared
(raised) by different family gives an obvious manifestation of the point being made in this section.

Remember: ONE IS WHO HE IS BECAUSE OF HIS FAMILY FOR THE MOST PART.

Gender and Self

 Gender is one of those loci of self that is subject to alteration, change, and development.
 People fought hard for the right to express validate, and assert their gender expressions 
Society forces a particular identity unto us depending on our sex and/or gender.
 The sense of self that is being taught makes sure that an individual fits in a particular
environment. This is dangerous and detrimental in the goal of truly finding one’s self, self-
determination, and growth of the self.
 Gender has to personally discovered and asserted and not dictated by culture and society

Sonia Tolstoy, the wife of the famous Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy wrote when she was twenty-one, “ I
am nothing but miserable crushed worm, whom no one wants, whom no one loves, useless creature
with morning sickness, and a big belly, two rotten teeth, and a bad temper , a battered sense of dignity,
and a love which nobody wants and which nearly drives me insane”

Explanation: this account illustrate that our gender partly determines how we see ourselves in the
world. Because oftentimes, society forces a particular identity unto us depending on our sex and/or
gender. For example in the Philippines, HUSBANDS for the most part are expected to head the family.
The ELDEST man in a family is expected to head the family and hold in it. But today, we think or change
our perceptions in life due to our society and culture, it changes how we develop and learned new
things without referring to our gender differences. We can do things in our very own ways and
capabilities.

APPLICATION AND ASSESSMENT

Answer the following questions cogently (convincing, effective, and persuasive) but honestly. Write your
answers on any kind of paper or resources that is available on your places.

1. How would you describe yourself?

2. What are the influences of family in your development as an individual?
 3. Think of the time when you felt you were your “self”. What made you think you were truly who
you are during this time of your life?
4. Following the question above, can you provide a time when you felt you were not living your
“true self”? Why did you have to live a life like that? What did you do about it?
5. What social pressures help shape yourself? Would you have wanted it otherwise?
6. What aspects of your self do you think may be changed or you would like to change?

Prepared by:

DARLENE N. BAGUIO, LPT