MODULE 1 LESSON 2:
The Self from the Sociological and Anthropological Perspective
➢ attitude of generalized other = attitude
GEORGE MEAD’S SOCIAL SELF of the entire community
➢ Self is not biological but social
(developed through social interaction) SOCIOLOGICAL
LOOKING GLASS SELF
SELF
➢ Charles Horton Cooley
➢ Self-awareness: conscious knowledge of ➢ self = a result of one’s perceptions of
one’s own character, feelings, motives, other people’s opinions
and desires ➢ made up of feelings about other
➢ Self-image: the idea one has of one’s people’s judgment of one’s behavior
abilities, appearance, and personality ➢ three steps:
1. People imagine how they must
ROLE-PLAYING appear to others
➢ putting oneself in the position of the 2. They imagine the judgement
person with whom he/she interacts on that appearance
➢ develops a concept of self 3. They develop themselves
through the judgement of
3 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT others
1. Imitation or Preparatory Stage: a child ➢ People also imagine how others judge
imitates the behavior of his/her parents what they see, whether with approval,
2. Play Stage: the child playing the roles doubt, or hostility.
of others
3. Game Stage: the child comes to POSTMODERNISM
themselves from the perspective of ➢ report of a mindset of western culture
other people in 20th century
➢ Michel Foucault – self is a product of
“I” AND “ME” SELF modern discourse that is socially and
➢ I and Me – phases of self historically conditioned
• I
- unsocialized and spontaneous 4 BASIC POSTMODERNIST IDEAS ABOUT THE
- and subjective acting part of SELF (Anderson)
the self 1. Multiphrenia: different voices speaking
- for Mead, there is no “I” self “who we are and what we are”
because self is shaped by 2. Protean: capable of changing
outside forces constantly to fit the perfect conditions
• Me 3. De-centered: no self at all
- results from the progressive 4. Self-in-relation: humans do not live their
stages of RP lives in isolation but in relation to
- view and analyze one’s own people and cultural contexts
behavior
- internalized attitude of others ➢ In traditional society: a person’s status
- conventional and objective is determined by role
part of the self ➢ In modern society: by achievement
➢ In post-modern society: by
GENERALIZED OTHERS fashion/style
➢ organized community or social group
which gives to the individual his/her ➢ For Foucault, self is a text written from
unity of self moment to moment according to
➢
demands of multitude of social - Self-Categorization – one must
contexts identify himself/herself within a
➢ The postmodern social condition is group & differentiate from the
dominated by two realities: out-groups
o The rise of new media
technologies 3 FUNDAMENTAL SELVES
o The dominance of 1. Individual Self: traits, states, and
consumerism behaviors
2. Relational Self: one’s relationships
➢ Lyon – The predicament of the self in 3. Collective Self: one’s group
postmodern societies is complicated
by the advent of electronic-mediated
virtual interactions of cyberselves and IDENTITY STRUGGLES
the spread of IT. ➢ Anthony Wallace and Raymond
➢ Green – Self is “digitalized” in Fogelson
cyberspace ➢ discrepancy between the identity a
person claims to posses and the
ANTHROPOLOGICAL identity attributed to that person by
CULTURAL AND NATIONAL IDENTITY others
➢ Culture – “cultura” or cultus meaning
care or cultivation
❖ Personal Identity – see
themselves as an individual
❖ Collective Identity – see
themselves as a member of a
certain group
➢ Identity – “who the person is” or the
qualities & traits of an individual that
make him/her different from others
❖ Cultural Identity
- feeling of belongingness to a
certain culture group
- race, gender, nationality,
religion, ethnicity, language
- multidimensional
- Cultural Identity Theory: why a
person acts and behaves
➢ Nation – group of people built on the
premise of shared customs, traditions,
religion, language, art, history, etc.
❖ National Identity
- feeling of belongingness to one
state or nation
- Rupert Emerson: “a body of
people who feel that they are
a nation”
- shaped by:
o Material Culture –
national flag, emblem,
seal
o Non-Material Culture –
norms, beliefs, traditions
