The Self,

Society and
Culture
What is SELF?
Man is gifted with intellect and the
capacity to rationalize things but at
the end of the day, out growth and
development and consequently, our
selves are truly products of our
interaction with external reality.
 The Following Are
Characteristics of Self:

1) SEPARATE 2) SELF
CONTAINED AND
– it is meant that the self is INDEPENDENT
distinct from other selves.
Self is always unique and has its – it can exist itself
own identity ( one cannot be -its distinctness allows it to be self-
another person). contained with its own thoughts,
characteristics and volition
-it does not require any other self for
it to exist
 The Following Are
Characteristics of Self:

3) CONSISTENT
- it has a personality that is enduring and 4) UNITARY
therefore, can be expected to persist for
quite some time 1)– center of all experiences and
-its consistency allows it to be studied, thoughts that run through a certain
described and measure person
-it has particular self traits,
characteristics, tendencies and
-all processes, emotions and thoughts
potentialities are more or converge
less the same
 The Following Are
Characteristics of Self:

5) PRIVATE Therefore, ourselves play different

– each person sorts out information, roles, act in different ways depending
feelings and emotions and thought on our circumstances. The self is
processes within the self. capable of morphing and fitting itself
into any circumstances it finds itself in.
 FACTORS
INFLUENCING
SELF:
 1)The Self and Culture
According to French Anthropologist Marcel Mauss, every self has two
faces:
a)Moi – refers to a person’s sense of who he is, his body, and his basic
identity, his biological givenness
-it is the person’s basic identity
b) Personne – it is 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 family, religion,
Nationality, and how to behave given expectations and influences from
other.
Therefore, if a self is born into a particular society and culture, the
self will have to adjust to its exposure.
 1)The Self and Culture
According to French Anthropologist Marcel Mauss, every self has two
faces:
a)Moi – refers to a person’s sense of who he is, his body, and his basic
identity, his biological givenness
-it is the person’s basic identity
b) Personne – it is 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 family, religion,
Nationality, and how to behave given expectations and influences from
other.
Therefore, if a self is born into a particular society and culture, the
self will have to adjust to its exposure.
 2)The Self and the Development of the
Social World
Social World – “Universes of Discourse” through which common symbols,
organizations and activities emerge ( Encyclopedia.com)

According to Mead and Vygotsky, the way that human persons develop
is with the use of language acquisition and interaction with others.
And so, cognitive and emotional development of a child is always a
mimicry of how it is done in the social world, on the external reality he
is in.
Mead and Vygotsky treat the human mind as something that is
made, constituted through language as experience in the external world
and as encountered in dialogs with others.
 3) Self in Families
-In trying to achieve the goal of becoming a fully realized human, a
child enters a system relationships, most important of which is the
family.
-Language is the primary agents of rearing it family, babies learn the
language.
-The same is true ways of behaving.
Family – the basic unit in society traditionally consisting of two parents
rearing their children
-Group of persons of common ancestry
 4)Gender and the Self
Gender Identity – is the personal sense of one’s own gender.
-it can correlate with assigned sex at birth or may differ from it
(Wikipedia)
- defined as a personal conception of oneself as male or female
- in nearly all instances, is self – identified, as a result of a combination of
inherent and extrinsic or environmental factors. (Mescape.com)
-it how a person feels and who they know them self to be when it comes to their gender.

Basically, there are more than two genders (male or female) and usually is based on
someone’s anatomy (the genitals they were born with – Gender Assignment)
-This account illustrates that our gender partly determines how we see ourselves in the
world.
Therefore, gender has to be personally discovered and asserted and not dictated by
culture and the society.