GEC 1: Understanding the Self Saturday- BSE-1 @ BSBA 1 – 12:00 – 3:00 pm

Teacher: Perlita P. McDonald Saturday – BSBA 1A-1 @BSE –A1-1- 3:00 – 6:00 pm

TTH- BSED1B-1 @BEED 1B-1 5:30 – 7:00 pm

Module 2 Lesson 2 – The Self Society, and Culture

Lesson Objectives:

At the end of this lesson, the student will 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 how 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 class.

INTRODUCTION

 What is the relationship between external reality and the self?

Have you been able to watch the famous story of “TARZAN”?

 In the famous story of Tarzan, the little boy named Tarzan is left in the middle of the forest.
 Growing up, he never had an interaction with any other human being but apes and other
animals. Tarzan’s grew up acting strangely likes ape and unlike human persons. Tarzan became
an animal in effect. His sole interaction with them made him just like one of them.
 Human persons will not develop as human persons without interventions.
 We maybe gifted with intellect and the capacity to rationalize things, but at the end of the day,
Our growth and development and consequentially, ourselves are truly products of our intention
with external reality.

What is the Self?

 Self is always unique and has its own identity

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

Relationship between the Self and External Reality

 Social Constructionist Perspective

 - Argue that the self should not be seen as a static entity that stays constant through and
through. Rather, the self has to be seen as something that is constant struggle with external
reality, and is malleable in its dealings with society.
- Self is always in participation with social life and its dealings with society.

Consider the given situation;

Jon is a math professor in a Catholic University for more than a decade now. Jon has a beautiful wife
Joan, which he met in college. Joan was Jon first and last girlfriend. Apart from being a husband, Jon is
also blessed with two doting kids , a son and a daughter. He also sometimes serves in the church too as
a lector and a commentator. When Jon is in the university, he conducts himself in a matter that befits his
title as a professor.

 Are we being hypocritical in doing so?

 Are we even conscious of our shifting selves?
 Is the behavior of Jon acceptable and expected?

According to Mauss, every self has two faces:

1. Moi refers to a person’s sense of who he is, his body. And his basic identity; his biological givenness.
This is a person’s basic identity.

2. 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 family, a particular religion, a particular nationality,
and how to behave given the expectation and influences from others.

The Self and the Culture

 Our personne can be illustrated better cross – culturally

 Language is another interesting aspect of this social constructivism

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

The Self and the Development of the Social World

 How do children grow up and become social beings

 How can a boy turn out to be just like an ape
 How do twins coming out from the same mother turn out to be terribly different when given up
for adoption

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

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 in our head.

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.

Human mind as something that is made, constituted through language as experienced in the external
world and as encountere in dialogues with others.

 Notice how little children are fond of playing role play with their toys?
 Notice how they make 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, 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

Human persons learn the ways of living and therefore their selfhood by being in a family.

Without a family, biologically and sociologically, a person may not even survive or become a human
person

Gender and the Self

Gender is one of those loci of the self that is subject to alteration, change, and development

People fought hard for the right to express, validate, and assert their gender expressions

Sonia wrote this letter when she was twenty – one:

“I am nothing but a miserable but a miserable crushed worm, whom no one wants, whom no one loves,
a 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”

Society forces a particular identity unto us depending on our sex and/or gender

Husbands are expected to provide for the family

The eldest man in a family is expected to head the family and hold it in.

Mother role of taking care of children

Young women are encouraged to act like fine ladies, are trained to behave in a fashion that befits their
status as women in society

Men are taught to behave like a man, like holding in one’s emotion, being tough, fatalistic, not to worry
about danger, and admiration for hard physical labor.

QUEERS DEMAND

GENDER SELF – DETERMINATION

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 the society.