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SCHOOL OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Instructional Module in Understanding the Self

Preliminaries
I. Lesson Number 2
II. Lesson Title Who Am I - The Self, The Society and Culture
III. Brief Introduction This module explained physical self-development
of the Lesson starting with its formation. Also, it is about society and culture
specifically the relationship with your family and friends, and
others that influence who you are today.
IV. Lesson Objectives At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
a. Explain the relationship of the self, society, and culture;
b. Compare and contrast how social institutions and culture
affected the formation of the self; and
c. Examine one’s “self” against the different perspectives in this
lesson and various experiences of your classmates.

Lesson Proper
I. Getting Started
Answer the following question.
1. What is the commonly expected behavior, attitude, or even appearance (i.e.,
hairstyle, clothes, belongings) of the person?
 A Male Teenager
 A Religious Person
 An Artist
 A Mother
 A Student in Your Own Course
2. What are the common ideas among your classmates about the aforementioned
characters?
3. Where did you get the expectations in behavior, attitude, and appearance of each
character?
4. What you feel if someone does not fit your common ideas about one of the
characters?
5. If you are to change one of the typical perceptions or impressions of the characters,
what would it be and what change would you like to introduce? Cite one.
II. Discussion
For a long time, Philosophers have debated over the “self” in a mind-body perspective.
There is a common saying in the social sciences, especially in sociology and anthropology:
Human beings are, by nature, social beings. That is, each of us do not exist in a vacuum.
We interact with people and even the most introvert of us would have to relate and
communicate with a few.

If we take the idea of the self as a mind and body duality from the philosophical perspective,
we can now see the mind and body, ergo the self, to be existing, operating, and developing
within a social context. As Hughes and Kroehler (2008) puts it:

“We are born into a social environment; we fully develop in to human beings in a social
environment; and we live our lives in a social environment. What we think, how we feel, and
what we say and do all are shaped by our interactions with other people.”

Let us discuss this idea by first looking at key concepts from sociology and anthropology,
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theoretical perspective on how the “self” operates with society and culture, as well as the
main social institutions that affect our idea of who we are.

Every person lives in a society which is defined as a group of people sharing the same
culture and typically interacts in a definite territory. Each society has culture or a way of life
for those living in that specific society.

Culture is commonly divided into material culture the attires, tools, weapons, architectural
designs, religious implements and nonmaterial culture or the belief systems, the values, the
norms or expected behaviors, as well as the shared language and symbols.

Norms are rules on what to do or what not to do in a certain situation. Values are ideal
behaviors or principles that set the standard of what is acceptable ang admirable from a
person who is a part of a society. For example, you must kiss the hand of your elders
(mano) to show respect. The norm is the “pagmamano and the value is respect or
"pagkamagalang.” When you see someone who has an accident, the norm prohibits you
from laughing but prescribes you to help. The values that are promoted there are being
considerate and helpful.
Simply put, “society is composed of people” and “culture is composed of ideas, behavior,
and material possessions” (Kendall 2006). These two coexist and are interdependent with
each other. What do you think would be the culture of a Filipino society?

To maintain a smooth-functioning: society, social institutions are created, which are sets of
ideas, norms, practices, or mechanisms organized and focused on addressing the needs of
the community (McIntyre 2002). An example of such institution is the government, which
functions to maintain peace and order, among others. These institutions have a profound
effect on our concept of “self,” because they basically provide a systematic process of doing
things.

For example, you are considered a Filipino citizen because it is provided by the law, which
is under the processes of the government.

As a person grows into a society, he or she imbibes the culture of that society through the
processes of socialization. Socialization (or enculturation in anthropology) is a lifelong
process of learning, teaching, internalizing, and living the culture of a society.

Other things that a person will learn that will affect his or her “self” are status and roles.
Status is our position in a society or a particular group. You may be the first child, a
teenager, a student, or a president of a student organization among others, you can also
say that it is your distinguishing title relative to the other members of the group. Status can
either be ascribed, which is inherited or given at birth, or achieved, which is personally
acquired for achieving something. An ascribed status is being a prince for example, while
an achieved status is being elected as a president.

However, each position or title also have expected roles or parts to play included in our
roles are expected behaviors, norms, values, and attitudes.

In your discussion of your “self” in the earlier activities, which of your descriptions me from
your status and roles? Are descriptions, such as “independent,” “creative,” and “open-
minded,” among others, not also values currently promoted by the society?

Theoretical Approaches
Theoretical approaches and frameworks enable us to combine and use concepts in a
meaningful way to look and understand a part of reality—in this case, the connection of self,
society, and culture.
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Under the theory of Symbolic Interactionism for example, George Herbert Mead (1863-
1931) claimed that the self is created, developed, and changed through human interaction
(Hogg and Vaughan 2010). Basically, there are at least three reasons why self and identity
are social products (Elmore, Oyserman, and Smith 2012):

1. The “self” did not just come out of thin air. Our sociocultural context affected who we
are, even most of the choices we think we freely make. This influence of society and
culture will still have an effect on you even if you move from one place to another
and adapt a new perspective.
2. Whether we like to admit it or not, we actually need others to affirm and reinforce
who we think we are. We also need them as reference points about our identity. One
interesting example is the social media interactions that we have. In the case of
Facebook, there are those who will consciously or unconsciously try to garner more
Likes and/or positive Reactions, and that can and will reinforce their self-concept. It
is almost like a battle between who got more friends, more views, and trending
topics. If one says s/he is a good singer but his or her performance and the
evaluation of his or her audience says otherwise, that will have an effect on that
person's idea of himself or herself, one way or another.
3. Our notion of what is personally important to us is also influenced by the current
trends of what is important in our society. Education might be an important thing to
your self-concept, because you grew up in a family that valued education. Money
might be important to some, because they may have grown in a poor family and
realized how important money is in addressing certain needs, like medical
emergencies. Being a nurse or a lawyer can be priority in your self-schema, because
it is the in-demand course during your time.

Social interaction and group affiliation, therefore, are vital factors in creating our self-
concept, especially our social identity or our perception of who we are based on our
membership to certain groups (Jhangiani and Tarry 2014). It is also inevitable, then, that we
can have several social identities, that those identities can overlap, and that we
automatically play the roles as we interact with our groups. For example, you are a student,
yet you are also a member of a certain group of friends. You study because it is your role as
a student, but you prefer to study with your friends and your study pattern changes when
you are with your friends than when you do it alone.

Another school of thought is the Culture and Personality founded by Ruth Benedict (1887-
1948) and Margaret Mead (1901-1978).

They argued that the personality or the self is dependent on the cultural practices and
socialization process of a certain group. Thus, studying a person's personality can already
provide us an idea of his or her / cultural background and social upbringing and vice versa
(Dia et al. 2014). This is especially highlighted in Mead’s masterpiece, "Patterns of Culture,”
in which she studied native American Indian societies.

Clifford James Geertz (1926-2006) from the school of symbolic and interpretive
anthropology looks at culture as a collection of symbols with meanings, and these meanings
are made, communicated, and negotiated by each person to make sense of their lives and
interactions an (Clifford Geertz: Work and Legacy, n.d.)

Which of the descriptions you made about yourself are socially influenced? Which can you
say were your own choices, either to follow or to change?
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Social Institutions
As mentioned earlier, social institutions are organized to address the needs of society and
they, too, have a profound effect on our concept of “self”.

For the purposes of our discussion, let us look at five sample social institutions.

1. Kinship/Family - This is the most basic social institution of a society that organizes
us based on our familial ties. It can be based on blood-relations, like sibling relations
(consanguineal), by marriage, like a husband and a wife (affinal), or social, which are
relationships not falling under the first two but you still consider them as family
(Crossman 2019).

Your family is almost a miniature society where you first learn to relate to the outside
world. Your parents were your first interaction with authority and economy; from your
siblings or cousins you first learn how to relate with younger people. They taught you
the language of your people, how to describe this thing or that feeling. They showed
or told you what to do and not to do while you were at home, so when the time
comes that you go outside the house to a larger community, you have at least an
idea on how to act.

2. Economics/Market - This system aims to regulate the flow of resources and

services. Ideally, this should ensure that everyone gets a fair share of goods or that
a person in need will get the service he or she needs in order to address a necessity.

Ideally, this system should also regulate the price of the products to ensure fair
competition among producers and sellers. At times, it can also control the demand
by promoting a need or want for a certain product.

An example of this is the committee in charge of food during a school activity. Their
function is to ensure that every participant gets to eat. However, they must also
calculate and announce the necessary budget in order for it to be included in the
registration fee or target funds to be requested from the school or donors.
Furthermore, they can add a special cake or limited item that can be bought for an
additional price.

3. Politics/Government - This is usually composed of various organizations ensuring

peace and order by legitimizing the use of power of certain people or groups.

In the Philippines, the government is divided into three equal branches: the
executive, headed by the president and who is in-charge of enforcing the law; the
legislative, composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate of the
Philippines who are in-charge of creating, amending, or repealing those laws; and
the judiciary, led by the Supreme Court to provide proper interpretation of the laws
and ensure that they are following the Constitution and basic human rights.

Note that while the President represents the Philippines, he or she is not treated as a
king with the sole authority and power in a republic and democratic country like the
Philippines. These three branches are treated equally with powers to check and
balance each other. Under the constitution, they serve the country and the utmost
authority still comes from the people.

4. Education/School - The basic function of schools is to ensure that the knowledge of

the past and the culture of the society gets transmitted from one generation to
another. It safeguards continuity or brings about changes to the other social
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institutions. It aims to produce people who can live harmonious, in the given social
environment as well as able to be productive citizens for the economy.
Some may look at this as a mechanistic way of producing workers, buy one must
also consider that education has also played in bringing new idea, that changed what
have been oppressive status quos in the past. One example is the creation of
ilustrados, like Jose Rizal and his colleagues, that brought concepts for reformation
as well as revolution against an oppressive Spanish regime in the Philippines.

Thus, a good education from a reputable school must always be sought after. The
effects of almost twenty years in school to the mindset of a person cannot be
diminished. It does not only dictate a person’s skill on the job, but will also affect his
or her behavior and attitude toward social issues and life in general.

5. Religion/Church - This is an organized set of practices, symbols, and artifacts

regarding the belief of the supernatural. There are several reasons why people
believe in the supernatural: a) explanation of the unexplainable; b) meaning and
purpose of life; and c) continuity of relationship with the people that we care about
even after death among others.

Aside from the supernatural, religion or the church can also function to teach and
reinforce values, norms, and morals in partnership with the family and the school.

If you will reflect on it, most of the things we use to describe our “self” came from these
social institutions. Other social institutions include mass media, community Service
organizations, health services, and recreation.

However, as pointed by Geertz, a person can still choose what to adapt, reject, or change.

The self, or our identity if we want to call it, is a result of the interaction and discourse
between a person and the society. We are introduced and socialized into our groups,
teaching us all the status, roles, values, and norms that we need to live in this society which
became a part of our description of ourselves. In return, the way we collectively live,
express, and recreate this imbibed culture reinforces and transforms our society and culture
(Berger and Luckmann 1991).
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III. Application/Assessment
Directions: In a short bond paper write an essay about the influence that you get from the
different social institutions (Family/Kinship, Economics/Market, Politics/Government,
Education/School and Religion/Church). Kindly follow the format below.

Title: The Society and I

Paragraph 1: Who are you? (Describe yourself--your hobbies, your beliefs, your likes and
dislikes how you view life)
Paragraph 2: What are the influences that you get from family, market, government,
school and church? (Make sure that you give your own experiences)
Paragraph 3: How does these influences help you in becoming who you are? (Give the
importance of having the influences from social institutions)

CRITERIA POINTS
Content 12
Organization of Ideas 8
Relevance to the Theme 6
Originality 4
TOTAL 30

IV. References
Brawner, D.G. & Arcega, A.F. (2018). Understanding the Self. Quezon City, Philippines: C
& E Publishing, Inc.
Frando, Milagros F. & Isip, Lalaine A. (2022). Understanding the Self 2nd Edition.
Mandaluyong City, Philippines: Books Atbp. Publishing Corp.
Gutierrez-Ang, J. (2018). Understanding the Self. Manila, Philippines: Mindshapers Co., Inc.
Luna, Alden Reuben B. (2022). Understanding the Self. Intramuros, Manila: Unlimited
books Library Services & Publishing Inc.
Otig, V.S., Gallinero W.B., Bataga, N.U., Salado, F.B. & Visande, J.C.(2018) A Holistic
Approach in Understanding THE SELF. Malabon City, Philippines: Mutya Publishing
House Inc.

Prepared by:

LYNNEL L. NIEGAS, LPT

Instructor

Reviewed by:

JOHN MARC R. MENDOZA,

PhD, MLIS
Program Head, School of Teacher
Education
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