GE 1 – Understanding the Self

March 25, 2022

Anthropological View
The Self Embedded in Culture
Anthropology  the study of humans and human behavior and societies in the past
and present.
Fields of Anthropology
1. Biological
2. Archaeology
3. Sociocultural
4. Linguistic

Cultural/Social Anthropology
 referred to as ethnology
 is basically to understand how people in different societies perceive themselves
and the world around them.
- arts
- legends
- myths
- social institutions (family)
- leadership structure
-
Sociocultural Anthropologists  interested in how humans behave in group settings
and in the language, cultural rituals, and relationships that they develop

How Does Anthropology View Self?

It views self as genetic and cultural origins of the self, the role that self portrays in
socialization and language, and the types of self we generate in our individual
journeys to and through adulthood.

Self in Modern Anthropology

 encompasses the “physical organism, possessing psychological functioning and
social attributes
LeDoux Concept: Two Aspects of Self
The self is not static, it is added to and subtracted from the genetic maturation,
learning, forgetting, stress, ageing, and disease.
This is true of both the implicit and explicit aspects of the self
1. Explicit - consciously aware
2. Implicit – not immediately available to the consciousness

Self as Representation
 selected cultural concepts of person and selected “chains” of personal
memories
1
 GE 1 – Understanding the Self
 culturally shaped “self” concepts that one applies to oneself
Ewing
 Ewing asserted that a “self” is illusory. People construct a series of self
representations that are based on selected cultural concepts of person and
selected “chains” of personal memories.
 Each self-concept is experienced as a whole and continuous with its own
history and memories that emerge in a specific context to be replaced by
another self-representation when the context changes.
 By representation, Ewing meant culturally shaped “self” concepts that one
applies to oneself; it is the mental entities that are supposed to represent the
self.
 people from all cultures have been observed to be able to rapidly project
different self-representations, depending on the context of the situation.
 The person is unaware of these shifts; however, he/she will still experience
wholeness and continuity despite the shifts.

Self as Embedded in the Culture

Culture
- the social behavior and norms found in human societies
- considered a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the range of
phenomena that are transmitted through social learning in human societies.
- the set of customs, traditions, and values of a society or community, such as an
ethnic group or nation.
- the set of knowledge acquired over time.
- also used to describe specific practices within a subgroup of a society,
a subculture, or a counterculture
- highly relative; it varies by place, practices, and by individuals.
- socially transmitted and learned by groups of people, bounded by ethnicity,
geography, and personal orientation.

Edward Taylor
Culture - complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, law, art, moral,
custom, and other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
Culture has great impact on a person and this is manifested in his thoughts,
behaviors, and expression.
 Language
 Communication
 Courtesies
 Rituals
 Roles
 Customs
 Relationships
 Practices
 Expected behaviors
2
 GE 1 – Understanding the Self
 Values
 Thoughts
 Manners of interacting

Self in Culture
Catherine Raeff
 believed that culture can be influence how you view: relationships,
personality traits, achievement, and expressing emotions.
a. Relationships - Culture influences how you enter into and maintain
relationships. For example, relationships may be seen as voluntary or as
duty-based. In western societies, it is essential for a person to choose
whom to marry while some eastern societies still practice arranged
marriage.
b. Personality traits - Culture influences whether (and how) you value
traits, like humanity, self-esteem, politeness, assertiveness, and so on, as
well as how you perceive hardship or how you feel about relying on
others.
c. Achievement - Culture influences how you define success and whether
you value certain types of individual and group achievements.
d. Expressing emotions - Culture influences what will affect you
emotionally, as well as how you express yourself, such as showing your
feelings in public or keeping it private.

Tradition
- specific activity, event or behavior that has been repeated over and again from
generation to generation.
- different traditions are an intrinsic part of our different cultures help define our
sense of who we are and where we belong
- deeply ingrained
- relates to a specific activity, event or behavior that has been repeated over and
again from generation to generation.