GE6100 - Understanding The Self

LESSON 8: THE MATERIAL / ECONOMIC SELF

THE MATERIAL / ECONOMIC SELF

The material self consists of things that belong to a person or entities that a person belongs to. Thus,
things like the body, family, clothes, money, and such make up the material self. For James, the core of
the material self was the body. Second to the body, James felt a person's clothes were important to the
material self. He believed a person's clothes were one way they expressed who they felt they were; or
clothes were a way to show status, thus contributing to forming and maintaining one's self-image.
Money and family are critical parts of the material self. James felt that if one lost a family member, a
part of who they are was lost also. Money figured in one's material self in a similar way. If once a
person had significant money then lost it, who they were as a person changed as well.

“For the old critics of luxury, the human self was something pure that existed apart from the material
world. For champions of the new outlook, possessions ceased to be something invasive and corrosive.
On the contrary, material things were an essential part of the human self.”

Frank Trentmann: The Self

People had a “material self”, in the words of William James, the Harvard psychologist and giant of the
American intellectual scene in the late nineteenth century. A “man’s Self is the sum total of all that he
CAN call his”, James wrote in 1890. This included his body, family and reputation but also his “clothes
and his house… his lands and horses, and yacht and bank-account.” If they grew, their owners felt
triumphant. If they faded, people felt a part of themselves was dying.

It was this “material self” that also pushed people to acquire homes and fill them with possessions.
William James and his younger brother Henry, the novelist, wrote during a boom in home decorating
and collecting. In The Spoils of Poynton (1896) Henry followed the intimate (and ultimately
destructive) power that cabinets, chairs and other treasures had over the main character. In real life,
furniture and possessions were means for families to cultivate and demonstrate their character.

In some ways, the embrace of a “material self” in the West was not all that ground breaking. After all,
Shinto and Buddhism envisages a flow between spirit and objects. Things can take on divine qualities
– hence the great commerce in gifts in Asian countries. Where the West was different was in its
glorification of novelty – the pursuit of new trinkets, gadgets and products. This gave it a much greater
drive and dynamism than, say, China, which in the late Ming period (1590-1644) also saw a rise in
commerce but ultimately prized antiquities over novelty. Taste, here, remained more exclusive and
backward looking.

That the West moved from a fear of being possessed to a cult of possession did
not mean that suddenly “anything goes”.

Lesson 8: The Material / Economic Self 1

 GE6100 - Understanding The Self

EXAMPLE OF MATERIAL SELF

Self is judged on the way you dress, the kind of clothes you wear, the car you drive and the type of
home you prefer or own.

Lesson 8: The Material / Economic Self 2