Topic 2: The SOCIAL SELF

At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:

- define construct, social self, and sociology
- describe the role of socialization in the formation of The Self
- relate the relevance of the sociological perspective in the development of The Self
Through interaction with their social and cultural environments, people are transformed into participating members of their
society. Others help develop you.
“There are two populations in this world: You and others.”
Definitions

SOCIAL SELF
CONSTRUCT SOCIOLOGY
- Who we are in a given
- Something (such as an idea - is the study of society and
social situation (we
or a theory) that is how this affects a person in
change how we act
formed in the people’s a variety of context.
depending on the
 The self emerges in our interaction with others.
 Social behaviors are shaped based on how we interact with others in a given situation.
 The groups that individuals belong to largely influence human behavior and the social interactions that take place
within them.
Sociological Perspectives in the Construction of The Self
GOFFMAN AND THE SOCIAL SELF (SELF AS A PERFORMER)
“Choose your self-presentations carefully, for what starts out as a mask may become your face”
Goffman (1959) in his book entitled “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life”
claimed that one' s culture plays a role in developing social behaviors and one's
self identity in society. Goffman argues that the self is simply nothing more than
“self-presentations” and “role performances.”
Social life as a theatre, with social scripts, performances and actors & roles that
perform in the Front and Back Regions of self. The concept of depicting social life
as a Theatre, Goffman developed the term Dramaturgy.

Dramaturgy is impression
management. Social interactions are like a stage, the self- promotes
scenery divided into two regions, the Front Regions (front stage) and
Back Regions (back stage).
We stage manage our interactions to achieve the desired response in
others. It can either be “managed” (dress, ways of sitting, facial
expressions) or “given off” (unconscious twitches, blushes, bodily
language)
At one extreme, we are fully taken by our performance; our roles. At others, we are very cynical of our role and so,
develop role distance and detach oneself from the expectations of others.
People learn intersubjective scripts about different appropriateness of ways of acting in situations and
how they develop “back regions” or “back stage.”
Ex: In a restaurant, the kitchen is the back stage area in which waiters can joke, mock customers and toy with the
food. When they come through the door into the restaurant’s front stage, they are supposed to slip effortlessly into the
controlled performance of the attentive waiter.
SELFHOOD is inevitably intersubjective. This means that there are
inclinations we experience commonalities in doing similar actions in
similar circumstances which then become a common ground of certain
action references.
Regardless of the commonalities, it doesn’t mean that we have lost that
uniqueness and peculiarity that makes us different from others.
Sociology vis-a-vis with understanding The Self contributes to the
understanding of the social construct of the self.
JOHN LOCKE
- English philosopher from the 1600’s.
- Insisted each newly born human being is a tabula rasa “blank slate”
o No personality
o Newborns could be molded into anything with training.

GEORGE HERBERT MEAD (SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM)

Mead believed that social interaction plays an important role in the development of
the self. Through 'play' and 'game,' we not only develop this sense of self, but also an
understanding of the social roles that surround us.
Mead: The Stage of Self

The Preparatory Stage The Play Stage Children begin “role-taking” in

Thewhich
Game they
Stage
mentally assume the perspective of an
Children imitate significant others to learn meaning behind symbols, gestures, and language.Children are now aware of their position in relations
 The generalized other is a concept of Mead in which children are able to not only take on the roles of others, but
also take into account the attitudes and perspectives of others in their social group. The emergence of the generalized
other requires the presence of some type of organized community or social system, whether it be a baseball team or an
organized family system.
As the self gradually develops, children internalize the expectations of a large number of people. Now they
develop the ability to take the role "the group as a whole" to this our perception of how in general think of us, Mead gives
the term generalized other”

The Self is the product of the following interactions:

Becoming self-conscious Taking the role of others in play and
through speech as the meaning of an games as such that play takes on
act is found in the response it elicited. social role of others, particularizes
one’s perspective and develops a
sense of otherness.
Connecting the “I” and the “Me” in
dialogue in the child’s growing years
continually takes on the attitudes of
those around him, especially the roles
of those who control him and whom
he
depends.

The “I” And “Me”

“I” “Me”
• is the unsocialized, spontaneous, • is the part of our self that is aware of
self- interested component of the expectations and attitudes of
personality. society.
• Very large role in children. • Very large role in adults.
• is the acting body-subject
• is the “I” objectification
• is the spontaneous response
• gives the self the capacity to innovate • is the organized set of attitudes of others
• is the vehicle of self-regulation

Social Self
- Mead's theory of the social self is based on the perspective that the self emerges from social interactions, such as:
 observing and interacting with others
 responding to others' opinions about oneself
 and internalizing external opinions and internal feelings about oneself
- The social aspect of self is an important distinction because other sociologists and psychologists felt that the self was
based on biological factors and inherited traits.
- According to Mead, the self is not there from birth, but it is developed over time from social experiences and
activities.
Development of Self
- According to Mead, three activities develop the self: language, play, and games.
 Language develops self by allowing individuals to respond to each other through symbols, gestures, words, and
sounds.
 Play develops self by allowing individuals to take on different roles, pretend, and express expectation of others.
Play develops one's self-consciousness through role-playing.
 Games develop self by allowing individuals to understand and adhere to the rules of the activity. Self is developed
by understanding that there are rules in which one must abide by in order to win the game or be successful at an
activity.
Two Sides of Self: Me & I
- According to Mead's theory, the self has two sides or phases: 'me' and 'I.'
 The 'me' is considered the socialized aspect of the individual. The 'me' represents learned behaviors, attitudes, and
expectations of others and of society.
 The 'I', therefore, can be considered the present and future phase of the self. The 'I' represents the individual's
identity based on response to the 'me.'
 The 'me' and the 'I' have a didactic (instructive) relationship.

The Role of Socialization in the Formation of The Self

There are only two populations in this world; you and others. The self is a product of an individual' s interaction with
society among other constructions. Since we are social beings, we like to interact with others, and we somehow imprint
our thoughts and ideas upon others from these interactions.
Socialization - the interactive process through which people learn.
 Basic skills
 Values
 Beliefs
 Behavior patterns of a society
- Within socialization, a person develops a sense of self
- Conscious awareness of possessing a distinct identity that
separates you from other members of society.

THE INTERACTION OF CULTURE, SOCIETY AND

THE SELF (SELF- CONSTRUAL, CULTURAL
ORIENTATION)
Markus and Kitayama (1991) claimed that those who have independent self-construal define themselves in terms
of internal attributes such as traits, abilities, values, and preferences. In contrast, those with interdependent self-construal
define themselves in terms of their relationships with others.
Construal is the act of construing, interpreting, or interpretation. People in different cultures have strikingly
different construal of the self, of others, and of the interdependence of these two. This construal can influence and
determine the very nature of individual experiences including cognition, emotion, and motivation.
The independent self-construal describes themselves in psychological terms such as:
- “I am sincere"
- separation of self and society
- autonomous and agentic
As such, the European-American identity is geared towards attaining personal goals and individualization of The Self.
The connected/interdependent self-construal describe themselves in social terms such as:
- “I am a student at UNO-R"
- embedded in a network of social relations
- group agency and collective change
Asian and African identities are geared towards living in
harmony in the social and environmental context and
enhancing the collective life of the community.
Asian cultures have distinct conceptions of
individuality that insist on the fundamental relatedness of
individuals to each other. The emphasis is on attending to
others, fitting in, and harmonious interdependence. In contrast,
individuals
seek to maintain their independence from others by attending to the self and by discovering and expressing their unique
inner attributes.
Triandis (2003) view that collectivist cultures are more likely to define themselves as aspects of groups, give
priority to in-group goals, focus on context more than content attributions and in communications, pay less attention to
internal processes as determinants of social behavior, define most relationships within group members as communal,
make more situational attributions, and tend to be self-effacing.
Individualist cultures, on the other hand, see The Self as fully autonomous, but
recognizes that inequality exists among individuals, and that accepting this is
inequality. On the other hand, they see The Self as fully autonomous, and believing
that equality between individuals is the ideal.
Mbiti (1970) observed that the African community has the cultural orientation of
the collective self, hence, has no concept of individual self. Self is always
collective and contextual…

Bharati (1986) of India emphasized that in

Hinduism, seeing God and the innermost self the
indivisibility of the “true” self with the one•ness of
God and that innermost self- reached through
meditation and self- discipline.