MATERIAL SELF

We are living in a world of sale and shopping spree. We are given a wide array of products to
purchase from a simple set of spoon and fork to owning a restaurant. Almost everywhere,
including the digital space, we can find promotions of products purchase. Product
advertisement are suggestive of making us feel better look good. Part of us wants to have that
product. What makes us want to have those products are connected with who we are. What
we want to have and already possess is related to our self.
Belk (1998) stated that “we regard our possession as parts of our selves. What are we
have and what we possess”. There is direct link between self-identity with what we have and
possess. Our wanting to have and possess has a connection with other aspect of the self, the
material self.
According to William James, the material self refers to objects, places, or even people with
the title "mine." Such possessions are regarded as extensions of people's identities.
For example, your clothes express certain aspects of your personality, and you refer to them
as "my wardrobe."
Self -
Body

Clothes

Immediate Family

Home

Material Self Investment Diagram

The innermost part of our material self is our body (self-care) .Intentionally, we are
investing in our body. We are directly attached to this commodity that we cannot live
without. Any ailment or disorder directly affect us. We do have certain preferential
attachment or intimate closeness to certain body parts because of its value to us.
The Clothes we use (self-portrayal). Influenced by the “Philosophy of Dress” by Herman
Lotze, James believed that clothing is an essential part of the material self. Lotze in his
book, Microcosmus, stipulates that “any time we bring an object into the surface of our
body, we invest that object into the consciousness of our personal existence talking in its
contours be our own and making part of the self. Clothing is a form of self- expression.
We choose and wear clothes that reflect our self (Watson 2014).
The third in the hierarchy is our immediate family (attachments) .Our parents and sibling
hold another great important part of our self. What they do or become affects us. When an
immediate family member dies, part of us our self-dies, too. We feel their victories as if
we are the one holding the trophy, in their failures, we are put to shame or guilt. We place
huge investment in our immediate family when we see them as the nearest replica of our
self.
The fourth components of material self is our home (comfort zone). Home is where our
heart is. It is the earliest nest of our selfhood. Our experience inside the home were
recorded and marked on particular parts and things in our home. The home thus is an
extension of self. Because in it, we can directly connect our self.
Having investment to self to things, made us attached to those things. The more
investment of self-given to the particular thing, the more we identify ourselves to it.
James (1890) described self. “a man’s self is the sum total of all what he CAN call his”.
Possessions then become a part or an extension of the self.
We Are What We Have
Russel Belk (1988) posits that “we can regard our possessions as part of ourselves. We
are what we have and what we possess”.
As we grow older, putting importance to material possession decreases. However,
material possession gains higher value in our lifetime if we use material possession to
find happiness, associate these things with significant events, accomplishments, and
people in our lives.
Examples of these are the chair in the dining room on which the person is always seated,
the chair will be the constant reminder of the person already pass away.
The possessions that we dearly have tell something about who we are-, our self-concept,
our past, and even our future.