Understanding

the Self
Thinking Philosophically
Do You Know Yourself?
1. How would you describe your self?
2. What are the qualities that differentiate you from all other selves?
3. In what ways has your self changed during the course of your life? In what
ways has it remained the same?
4. How would you describe the relation of your self to your body?
5. How are you able to come to know other selves? Do you think they are
similar to or different from you?
6. What do you think will happen to your self after you die?
7. If you believe that your self will continue to exist in some form, will you be
able to recognize other selves who have died? How?
Thinking Philosophically
Do You Believe in an Immortal Soul?
1. Though you may not have realized it, many of your fundamental ideas
about your self probably reflect the influence of Plato and Augustine.
 There is an immaterial reality that exists separate from the physical
world.
 There is a radical distinction between an immaterial soul and physical
body.
 There are immortal souls that find their ultimate fulfilment in union with
the eternal, transcendent realm (for Augustine, this is God).
In each case, compare and contrast your beliefs with those of Plato and
Augustine.
Thinking Philosophically
Do You Believe in an Immortal Soul?
2. In this passage Augustine explores a number of metaphors to illustrate
the relationship between the soul and the body: a team of horses or a
centaur; a body illuminated by a lantern; a rider on horseback. What
metaphors do you use to illustrate the relationship between your “soul”
and your body? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your
metaphors?
Thinking Philosophically
Are You a Seeker after Truth?
1. Explain your reaction to Descartes’s challenge, “If you would be a real
seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt,
as far as possible, all things.” Do you agree with this statement? Why or
why not? If so, how?
2. Describe some important areas of your life in which you would consider
yourself to be a “real seeker after truth.” Identify several examples of
beliefs you had been taught or raised with which you questioned for the
purpose of developing your own independent conclusions.
Thinking Philosophically
Are You a Seeker after Truth?
3. Describe some important areas of your life in which, in your opinion,
you fell short of being a “real seeker after truth.” Identify several
examples of beliefs you have been raised with that you have been
reluctant to question.
4. What factors have made it difficult for you to doubt these beliefs?
5. Do you think you will critically analyse them at some point in the future?
Thinking Philosophically
Applying Locke’s Ideas
1. What do you think are the essential mental qualities that define all
people?
2. How would you define your personal identity?
3. How would you define you as a person?
4. How would you describe the relationship between the two?
5. What do you think is the relationship between your consciousness and
your thinking process?
6. What do you think is the relationship between your consciousness and
your concept of self-identity as something that remains the same in
different times and places?
Thinking Philosophically
Sense, Perception, and Your Self
1. Reflect on your mind and identify the contents that you are experiencing
as Hume would describe them: isolated and fleeting sounds, images,
tastes, smells, and so on. Did this require a special effort on your part?
Why or why not?
2. Now reflect on the contents of your mind and identify the contents that
you are experiencing as Kant would describe them: an integrated world
of objects, relationships, space, and time. How did this mental
“experiment” compare with the previous one?
3. Describe a time in your life in which your experience was very much as
Hume describes it and then how it changed into an experience that was
more Kantian.
Thinking Philosophically
Looking for Evidence of Your Unconscious
Although the contents of the unconscious cannot be observed directly
(according to Freud), we can observe them indirectly, like seeing footprints
in the sand or dusting for fingerprints. There are several areas in which
unconscious influences are evident. This is an opportunity for you to look
for evidence of unconscious functioning in each of these areas.
1. Slips of the tongue: Think about a time in which you unexpectedly said
what you really thought rather than what you intended to say: for
example, “I think your new haircut looks atrocious” instead of your
intended “I think your new haircut looks attractive.” Do you think this is
persuasive evidence for Freud’s concept of the unconscious?
Thinking Philosophically
Looking for Evidence of Your Unconscious
2. Dreams: Describe a particularly disturbing dream, or a recurring dream,
that expressed surprising or disturbing themes. What do you think the
dream really meant? Do you think the dream is persuasive evidence for
Freud’s concept of the unconscious?
3. Neurosis: Describe one sort of neurotic behavior in which you engage.
For example, do you have a compulsion to check and recheck locks? To
eat too much or too little? To perform superstitious rituals? To be overly
suspicious (“paranoid”) about others’ intentions? To feel excessively
guilty about something? To be chronically depressed? What do you think
is the origin of this neurosis? Do you think this syndrome is persuasive
evidence for Freud’s concept of the unconscious?
Reading Critically
Analysing Ryle’s View of Self as Behavior
1. Think of someone you know and try to describe him or her solely in
terms of his or her observable behavior. Then analyze your portrait:
What aspects of his or her self does your description capture? What
aspects of his or her self does your description omit?
2. Now think about yourself. Assume the perspective of someone who
knows you well and describe your self as he or she might see you, based
solely on your observable behavior. What aspects of your self do you
think his or her description would capture? What aspects of your self do
you think his or her portrait of you would omit?
Reading Critically
Analysing Ryle’s View of Self as Behavior
3. Identify several of the defining qualities of your self: for example,
empathetic, gregarious, reflective, fun-loving, curious, and so on. Then,
using Ryle’s approach, describe the qualities in terms of “a tendency to
act a certain way in certain circumstances.”
4. Analyse your characterizations. Do your descriptions communicate fully
the personal qualities of your self that you identified? If not, what’s
missing?
Reading Critically
Analysing Churchland’s Materialism
1. Explain the reasons why materialists believe that to fully understand the
nature of the mind we have to fully understand the nature of the brain.
2. Based on your own experience, describe some examples of the close,
interactive relationship between the physical dimensions of your self
and the psychological aspects of your mind and experience.
3. Explain why Paul Churchland believes that a close examination of the
history of science suggests that we are at the beginning of a conceptual
revolution in understanding the nature of the mind.
4. Explain the arguments against eliminative materialism. Which
arguments do you find most persuasive? Why?
Writing About Philosophy
Defining the Self
1. This essay assignment is an opportunity to express your own views on
the nature of the self in a form that is thoughtful and coherent.
2. Begin by reflecting on the various perspectives regarding the self that
you read about and discussed in this chapter.
3. Make notes about which theories you strongly agreed and disagreed
with, and do some prewriting by drafting a paragraph on each of these
theories, bringing in your own experiences to support your positions.
4. Then use these drafts to compose a paper that reflects your own
synthesis of the theories.
Writing About Philosophy
Defining the Self
5. You may find that your ideas on this complex subject become clearer as
you think them through in writing.
6. By the end of the essay, the reader should have an understanding of
your concept of the self and its connection to the philosophical ideas we
have been examining.
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self

Professor Jan E. Stet Professor Peter J. Burke

Department of Sociology, Washington State University
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
A sociological approach to self and identity begins
with the assumption that there is a RECIPROCAL
relationship between the self and society (Stryker,
1980).
The self influences society through the actions of
individuals thereby creating groups, organizations,
networks, and institutions.
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
The society influences the self through its shared
language and meanings that enable a person to take
the role of the other, engage in social interaction,
and reflect upon oneself as an object. The latter
process of reflexivity constitutes the core of
selfhood (McCall & Simmons, 1978; Mead, 1934).
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
Because the self emerges in and is reflective of
society, the sociological approach to understanding
the self and its parts (identities) means that we must
also understand the society in which the self is
acting, and keep in mind that the self is always
acting in a social context in which other selves exist
(Stryker, 1980).
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
SOCIOLOGY is interested in understanding the nature of
society or social structure: its forms and patterns, the ways
in which it develops and is transformed.
The traditional SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST perspective
known as the SITUATIONAL approach to self and society,
sees society as always in the process of being created
through the interpretations and definitions of actors in
situations (Blumer, 1969).
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
Actors identify the things that need to be taken into
account for themselves, act on the basis of those
identifications, and attempt to fit their lines of action with
others in the situation to accomplish their goals.
From this perspective, the inference is made that
individuals are free to define the situation in any way they
care to, with the consequence that society is always
thought to be in a state of flux with no real organization or
structure.
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
Our view of self and society is rooted in the STRUCTURAL
approach to the symbolic interactionist perspective.
Within this perspective, we do not see society as
tentatively shaped. Instead, we assume that society is
stable and durable as reflected in the “patterned
regularities that characterize most human action” (Stryker,
1980).
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
Patterns of behavior within and between individuals have
different levels of analysis, and this is key to understanding
the link between self and society.
At one level, we can look at the patterns of behavior of one
individual over time and come to know that individual. By
pooling several such patterns across similar individuals, we
can come to know individuals of a certain type.
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
At still another level, we can look at the patterns of
behavior across individuals to see how these patterns fit
with the patterns of others to create larger patterns of
behavior.
It is these larger, inter-individual patterns that constitute
social structure.
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
SELF
The symbolic interactionist perspective in sociological
social psychology sees the SELF as emerging out of the
mind, the mind as arising and developing out of social
interaction, and patterned social interaction as forming the
basis of social structure (Mead, 1934).
The MIND is the thinking part of the self. It is covert action
in which the organism points out meanings to itself and to
others.
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
The ability to point out meanings and to indicate them to
others and to itself is made possible by language, which
encapsulates meanings in the form of symbols.
When one’s self is encapsulated as a set of symbols to
which one may respond to itself as an object, as it
responds to any other symbol, the self has emerged.
The hallmark of this process – of selfhood – is REFLEXIVITY.
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
Humans have the ability to reflect back upon themselves,
taking themselves as objects.
They are able to regard and evaluate themselves, to take
account of themselves and plan accordingly to bring about
future states, to be self-aware or achieve consciousness
with respect to their own existence.
In this way, humans are a PROCESSUAL entity.
They formulate and reflect, and this is ongoing.
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
Self-Concept
Over time, as humans point out who they are to
themselves and to others, they come to develop a
concept/view of who they are.
Humans are an entity that embodies CONTENT and a
STRUCTURE.
Early views of the self-concept were concerned only with
self-evaluation – it often meant SELF-ESTEEM (one’s
evaluation of oneself in AFFECTIVE terms).
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
Self-concept is the set of meanings we hold for ourselves
when we look at ourselves.
Based on our observations of ourselves, our inferences
about who we are, based on how others act toward us, our
wishes and desires, and our evaluations’ of ourselves.
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
Includes not only our idealized views of who we are that
are relatively unchanging, but also our SELF-IMAGE or
WORKING COPY of our SELF-VIEWS that we import into
situations and that is subject to constant change and
revision based on situational influences (Burke, 1980).
It is this self-image that guides moment-to-moment
interaction, is changed in situated negotiation, and may act
back on the more fundamental self-views.
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
Self-Evaluation
The aspect of the self-concept that has received a
significant amount of attention in sociological social
psychology is the evaluative part of the self-concept, better
known as SELF-ESTEEM (Rosenberg, 1979).
Two dimensions of self-esteem have been identified:
efficacy-based self-esteem (seeing oneself as competent
and capable) and worth-based self-esteem (feeling that
one is accepted and valued) (Gecas & Schwalbe, 1983).
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self
Others have labeled the distinction “inner self-esteem”
(being effective) and “outer self-esteem” (acceptance by
others) (Franks & Marolla, 1976).
As Gecas and Burke (1995) point out, the significant
interest in self-esteem is largely due to assuming that high
self-esteem is associated with good outcomes such as
personal success while low self-esteem is associated with
bad outcomes such as deviance.
Sociological Approach to Identity and Self