 Private

The Self, Society and Culture

 Each person sorts out information, feelings
and emotions, and thought processes
What is the Self? within the self. The whole process is never
Commonly defined by the following accessible to anyone but the self.
characteristic: (Stevens, 1996)  Self is isolated from the external world. It
lives within its own world.
 Separate  
 The self is distinct from other selves. SELF
 It is ever-changing and dynamic, allowing
 Self-Contained external influences to take part in its
 Its distinctness allows it to be self- shaping. (Social Constructionist
contained with its own thoughts, Perspective)
characteristics, and volition. It does not
require any other self for it to exist. o It argues that for a merged view of
"the person" and "their social
 Independent context" where the boundaries of
 In itself it can exist. one cannot easily be separated from
the boundaries of the other.
 Consistent o The self should not be seen as a
 It has a personality that is enduring static entity that stays constant
and therefore can be expected to through and through. Rather, the
persist for some quite some time. self has to be seen as something
 It can be studied, described, and that is in unceasing flux. In a
measured. constant struggle with external
 The self-traits, characteristics, reality and is flexible in its dealings
tendencies, and potentialities are more with society.
or less the same.
 It is always in a participation with social
 Unitary life and its identity subjected to influences
 It is the center of all experiences and here and there. It is truly complex.
thoughts that run through a certain  
person. THE SELF AND CULTURE
 It is the chief of command post in an  "Remaining the same person and turning
individual where all processes, chameleon by adapting to one's context
emotions, and thoughts converge. seems paradoxical."
 But according to a French Anthropologist
Marcel Mauss, this phenomenon can be
explained.
 
EVERY SELF HAS TWO FACES:
 PERSONNE
- composed of the social concepts of what
it means to be who he is.
-It has much to do with what it means to
live in a particular institution, a particular
family, a particular religion, a particular
nationality, and how to behave given
expectations and influences from others.
 MOI - refers to a person's sense of who he
is, his body, and his basic identity, his
biological givenness. It is a person's basic
identity.
 
THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE SOCIAL WORLD
 Studies indicate that men and women in
their growth and development engage
actively in the shaping of the self. The
unending terrain of metamorphosis of the
self is mediated by language.
 Language as both publicly a shared and
privately utilized symbol system is the site
where the individual and the social make
and remake each other.
 PROPONENTS:
o who he is because of his family for the
Mead and Vygotsky
 The way that human
persons develop is with the
use of language acquisition
and interaction with others.
 The way that we process
information is normally a
form of an internal dialogue
in our head.
e.g. Those who deliberate about moral dilemmas
undergo internal dialog. "Should I do this or
that?" "But if I do this, it will be like this." "Don't I
want the other option?"
 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.
 They treat human mind as something that
is made, constituted through language as
experiences in the external world and as
encountered in dialogs with others.
 
SELF IN FAMILIES
 Sociological perspective struggles to
understand the real connection between
the concept of the SELF and the SOCIAL
WORLD. In doing so, sociologist focus on
the different institutions and powers at
play in the society. Among these, the most
prominent is the FAMILY.
 Human persons learn the ways of living
and therefore their selfhood by being in a
family. It is what a family initiates a
person to become that serves as the basis
for this person's progress.
 Without a family, biologically and
sociologically, a person may not even
survive or become a human person. One is
most part.
GENDER AND THE SELF
 Another important aspect of the "self" is
GENDER.
 Gender is one of those loci of the self that
is subject to alteration, change, and
development.
 From the point-of-view of the social
sciences and the self, it is important to give
 one the leeway to find, express, and live
his identity. This forms part of the
selfhood that one cannot just dismiss.
 One maneuvers into the society and
identifies himself as who he is by also
taking note of gender identities.