FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev.

0 10-July-2020

MODULE 8
CHAPTER II: UNPACKING THE SELF
A. THE MATERIAL/ECONOMIC SELF
MODULE OVERVIEW

I SHOP, THEREFORE I AM

 Identities can be reflected on the possessions that

people have. Some research are identified and drawn
upon developing this concept, which the concept is
from consumer behavior. To be able to identify this
consumer behavior, people need to gain some
understanding of the meanings that consumer attach to
possessions. People should first recognize that
possessions, intentionally or unintentionally, regard
these as parts of themselves.
 As Tuan (1998) argues, “our fragile sense of self needs
support, and this we get by having and possessing things because, to a large degree, we
are what we have and possess.” This premise regarded possessions are part of self of a
person that is not a new concept.
 This is concluded by William James who laid the foundations for modern conceptions of
help, he said “ a man’s self is the sum total of all that he can call his, not only his body
and psychic powers, but his clothes and his house, his wife and children, his ancestors
and friends, his reputation and works, his lands, and yacht and bank account. All these
things give him the same emotions. If they wax and prosper, he feels triumphant; if they
dwindle and die away, he feels cast down, - not necessarily in the same degree for each
thing, but in much the same way for all.” If people define possessions as things, they call
theirs, James was saying that people are the sum of their possessions.
 Two subclasses of the Material Self:
o The Bodily Self. The components of this is composed of the intimate parts of the
person, it includes our body’s aspects such as physical (arms head, legs etc),
emotional (feelings, desires etc), psychological (intelligence, cognition etc) and
moral (values, beliefs etc).

o The Extracorporeal Self. Also known as the extended self. It includes the people
of great significance to us (family), possessions (house, car, clothes), places that
matter to us, products of our labor (job, handworks etc).

 Moreover the material self is constituted by our bodies, clothes, immediate family and
home. It is to these things, according to James, that we are most deeply affected
because of our investments of self within these things. The more we invest of ourselves
in these objects, the more attached we inevitably we are to them.
 The innermost part of our material self is our body. Intentionally we are investing in our
body. We are directly attached to this commodity that we cannot live without. We strive to
make sure that the body functions well and good. That is why we buy food to nourish and
sustain it, vitamins to supplement its performance, cosmetics that will enhance etc. We
do have preferential attachment or intimate closeness to certain body parts because of its
value to us. Hence, there are certain people who get parts of their body insured like
renowned football athletes David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo who both had their
legs insured for $70M and $144M respectively and Jennifer Lopez who insured her butt
amounting to $300M.

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 Next to our body are the clothes that we use. Influence 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, stipulated that “anytime we bring an object into the surface of
our body, we invest in that object into the consciousness of our personal existence taking
in its contours our own and making it part of the self” The fabric and style of the clothes
we wear bring sensations to the body, to which we are directly affected through our
attitudes and behaviors.
 Our immediate family which include our parents and
siblings hold another great importance to the self. What
they do or become affects us. When an immediate family
member dies, a part of our self-dies too. When their lives
are in success, we feel their victories as is it was our own.
In their failures, we are also put to shame or guilt. When
they are in disadvantaged situation, there is an urge
within us to help like a voluntary instinct of saving one’s
self from danger. We see our family as the nearest replica
of our self.
 Next is our home. As said, home is where the heart is. Our experience inside the home
were recorded and marked on particular parts and things in our home. As the old cliché
goes, “if only walls can speak,” thus the home is an extension of the self because, in it we
can directly connect our self.

 HOW MUCH DO WE VALUE OUR SELF?

 Self-worth and self-value are two related terms that are often used interchangeably.
Having a sense of self-worth means that you value yourself, and having a sense of self-
value means that you are worthy. The differences between the two are minimal enough
that both terms can be used to describe the same general concept.
 Self-worth is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a feeling that you are a good person who
deserves to be treated with respect”.
 On the other hand, self-value is “more behavioral than emotional, more about how you
act toward what you value, including yourself, than how you feel about yourself compared
to others” (Stosny, 2014).
 The self-worth theory posits that an individual’s main
priority in life is to find self-acceptance and that self-
acceptance is often found through achievement
(Covington & Beery, 1976). In turn, achievement is
often found through competition with others.

 Thus, the logical conclusion is that competing with

others can help us feel like we have impressive
achievements under our belt, which then makes us
feel proud of ourselves and enhances our acceptance
of ourselves.

 Our self-worth is determined mostly by our self-

evaluated abilities and our performance in one or
more activities that we deem valuable. However,
people commonly use other yardsticks to measure
their self-worth. Here are five of the top factors that
people use to measure and compare their own self-worth to the worth of others:

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1. Appearance—whether measured by the number on the scale, the size of clothing worn,
or the kind of attention received by others;
2. Net worth—this can mean income, material possessions, financial assets, or all of the
above;
3. Who you know/your social circle—some people judge their own value and the value of
others by their status and what important and influential people they know;
4. What you do/your career—we often judge others by what they do; for example, a
stockbroker is often considered more successful and valuable than a janitor or a teacher;
5. What you achieve—as noted earlier, we frequently use achievements to determine
someone’s worth (whether it’s our own worth or someone else’s), such as success in
business, scores on the SATs, or placement in a marathon or other athletic challenge
(Morin, 2017).

SELF IDENTITY AND CONSUMER CULTURE

 Consumer researchers have recognized for a long time that people consume in ways that
are consistent with their sense of self (Levy 1959; Sirgy 1982). Important thought leaders
in our field have described and documented that consumers use possessions and brands
to create their self-identities and communicate these selves to others and to themselves
(e.g., Belk 1988; Fournier 1998; McCracken 1989)

One increasingly powerful context in which individuals construct and

express their identities is the material and consumer culture we live in.
Having the 'right' material goods has become vital to many, not so much
because of these goods themselves, but because of hoped-for
psychological benefits, such as moving closer to an ideal identity, creating a
desired social image, and achieving positive emotional states. Having,
buying, and desiring material goods has a profound impact on individuals'
identities and their well-being (Dittmar, 2008)

 Previous studies have emphasized the significance of self-concept and consumer

preference, as purchases made by consumers were directly influenced by the image
individuals had of themselves (Onkivist & Shaw, 1987). Sirgy (1982) defined self-image
congruity (also often referred to as product-image congruity) as the process of consumers
purchasing products/brands that they perceived as possessing symbolic images similar to
the image they hold of themselves. This theory postulated that products and brands have
symbolic meanings and display certain images. Consumers’ choices to purchase, display,
and use the products or brands helped them communicate the symbolic meaning to
themselves as well as to others. Thus, the greater the congruity between human
characteristics that exhibit consumers’ senses of self and the characteristics that depicted
a brand, the greater the consumers’ preferences were for the brand (Sung, Choi &
Tinkman, 2012).

 Purchase can be the consumer’s self-concept or identity. This includes both sans
possessions’ self and the extended self, and is often the object of introspection among
most consumers at one time or the other. Although the concept of ‘I’ can include virtually
everything a person ever come to own and live with, a systematic list would include six
components a. their bodies, b. their values and character, c. their successes and
competence, d. their social roles, e. their traits’ and finally, f. their possessions.

 If a person had to invest a lot of resources (money, time, energy) finding and selecting a
product, then to psychologically justify that kind of investment, people tend to view that
product as part of their extended self. For this reason, more expensive purchases, and
purchases for which they have saved for a long time are more likely to become part of the

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extended self.
 Products thus can relate to one’s self in two ways: a. by being instrumental to enhancing
their self sans possessions’ and; b. by becoming a valued possession. As to the second
role, product possessions become part of self by six mechanisms described above: by
self-based choice, by investment in acquisition, by investment in use, by bonding during
use, as collections, and as memory markers. ING CONTENTS (title of the subsection)

LEARNING ACTIVITY 1