Module 2 - Unpacking the Self (Part I): Physical and Sexual, Economic/Material,

Spiritual, and Political Self

Lesson 2: To Buy or Not to Buy? That Is the Question!

Learning Outcomes: At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. explain the association of self and possessions.
2. identify the role of consumer culture to self and identity; and
3. appraise one's self based on the description of material self.

Time Frame: Week 6

Introduction:
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
product purchase. Product advertisements are suggestive of making us feel better or
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 (1988) stated that "we regard our possessions as parts of our selves. We
are what we have and what we possess." There is a direct link between self- identity
with what we have and possess. Our wanting to have and possess has a connection
with another aspect of the self, the material self.

Activity:
Debit Card Challenge
A very wealthy person gave you a debit card and told you to use it as much as you
want to make yourself happy. What are you going to do with it? Make a list of what
you want to have. Write as many as you want.

Analysis:
Answer the following questions:
1. How do you feel as you do the Debit Card Challenge?
2. Which among the items in your list you like the most? Why?
3. If ever you were given the chance in real life to have one among the list which
would you choose.? Why?
4. Does your choice different from what you answer in question number 2? Why or
why not?

Abstraction:
Material Self

A Harvard psychologist in the late nineteenth century, William James, wrote in his
book, The Principles of Psychology in 1890 that understanding the self can be
examined through its different components. He described these components as: (1) its
constituents;(2) the feelings and emotions they arouse-self-feelings; (3) the actions to
which they prompt—self-seeking and self-preservation. The constituents of self are
composed of the material self, the social self, the spiritual self, and the pure ego.
(Trentmann 2016; Green 1997)
The material self, according to James primarily is about our bodies, clothes,
immediate family, and home. We are deeply affected by these things because we have
put much investment of our self to them.

https://www.scribd.com/presentation/394082532/Material-Self-Uts
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 hard to make sure that this body functions well and good. Any
ailment or disorder directly affects us. We do have certain preferential attachment or
intimate closeness to certain body parts because of its value to us.
 There were people who get their certain body parts insured. Celebrities, like
Mariah Carey who was reported to have placed a huge amount for the insurance of
her vocal cords and legs (Sukman 2016).
 Next to our body are the clothes we use. 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 taking in its contours to be our own and making it part of the self."
(Watson 2014) The fabric and style of the clothes we wear bring sensations to the
body to which directly affect our attitudes and behavior. Thus, clothes are placed in
the second hierarchy of material self. Clothing is a form of self-expression. We
choose and wear clothes that reflect our self (Watson 2014).
 Third in the hierarchy is our immediate family, our parents and siblings hold
another great important part of our self. What they do or become affects us. When an
immediate family member dies, part of our self dies, too. When their lives are in
success, we feel their victories as if we are the one holding the trophy. In their
failures, we are put to shame or guilt. When they are in disadvantage situation, there is
an urgent urge to help like a voluntary instinct of saving one's self from danger. We
place huge investment in our immediate family when we see them as the nearest
replica of our self.
The fourth component of material self is our home. Home is where our heart
is. It is earliest nest of our selfhood. Our experiences inside the home were recorded
and marked on the particular parts and things in our home. There was an old cliché
about rooms: "if only walls can speak." The home thus is an extension of self, because
in it, we can directly connect our self.
Having investment of 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.
We also tended to collect and possess properties. The collections in different degree
of investment of self, becomes part of the self. As 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 regard our possessions as part of
ourselves. We are what we have and what we possess." The identification of the self
to things started in our infancy stage when we make a distinction among self and
environment and others who may desire our possessions.
 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. There are even times, when material
possession of a person that is closely identified to the person, gains acknowledgment
with high regard even if the person already passed away. 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 seated there; a well-loved and kept vehicle of the
person, which some of the bereaved family members have a difficulty to sell or let go
of because that vehicle is very much identified with the owner who passed away; the
favorite pet or book, among others that the owner placed a high value, these favorite
things are symbols of the owner.
The possessions that we dearly have tell something about who we are, our
self-concept, our past, and even our future.

Application:
Debit Card Challenge List
1. Go back to your Debit Card Challenge List. Put a mark on the left side of each
item with the following categories:
B — if the item is related with your body
C — if the item is related with clothes
F — if the item is related or intended to your family
H — if the item is related with home
2. Answer the following questions:
Which among the categories you have the most in your list?
What do you think these things tell you about yourself?
Make a reflection paper about material self. You may use your answers from the
above questions in making your paper.

Closure:
Congratulations! You have just learned the connection of one’s material possession
to its identity. You may now continue to discover the meaning of life through the
journey in the spiritual side of yourself.
REFERENCES
Belk, Russell. 1998. Are we what we own? Accessed October 10, 2017.
http://www.writing.ucsb.edu/faculty/tingle/course/W2ACE/AREWE2.pdf
 
Russel. 1988. Possessions and the Extended Self. Accessed October 10 , 2017
http://citeseevx.ist.psu.edulviewdocldown\oad? doi=10.1.1.588.621
&rep=rep1&type=pdf
 Green, Christopher. 1997. Classics in the History of Psychology. An internet
resource developed by Christopher D. Green York University, Toronto,
Ontario. Accessed October 10, 2017.
httptllpsychclassics.yorku.ca/James/Principles/
Jirgensone, Austra. 2016. We are what we have. Accessed October 10, 2017.
http:// kennisbank.hva.nlldocumenfJ641720.
 Makan, Sunil. 2016. ELLE. 13 Celebrities With Insured Body Parts That Are Worth
More Than Your House. Accessed October 10, 2017. httpe.l/www.elleuk.
comllife-and-culturelarticlesla301671mariah-carey-jennifer-lopez-doly-
pat-ton-celebrities-insured-body-parts/.
 Tretmann, Frank. 2016. Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers,
from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First (UK'. Allen Lane/Penguin;
US: HarperCollins). Accessed October 10, 2017. https.llwww.unlimited.
worldlunlimitedlthe-material-self.
Watson, Cecelia. 2004. The Sartorial Self'. William James's Philosophy of
Dress. Accessed October 10, 2017. httpstllwww.researchgate.net/
publication/8333321_The_Sectorial_Self_William_James's_Philosophy_of_D
ress.
 William, James. The Principles of Psychology. New York: Dover Publications.
Accessed October 10, 2017.
https://niasconsiousnesscenter.com/Courses/2015-Readings/SignsofSelf/03.
William%20on%20the%20Self.pdf
 William, James. The Self and Its Selves. DJJR Sociology. Accessed October 10,
2017. http://mills-socl16.wikidot.comlnotes:james-self-and-its-selves.