An Anthropological

Conceptualization of
Self
The Self as Embedded
in Culture
• Anthropology – is the study of human biological and
physiological characteristics and their
evolution.
• Study of human society and culture and their
development.

• Practices among different societies reveal ways how

societies conceptualize what the self is and how it relates
to culture.

• Anthropology is concerned with how cultural and biological

processes interact to shape human experience.

• Contemporary anthropologists believe that culture and self

are complementary concepts that are to be understood in
relation to one another.
• Prof. James L. Peacock, anthropology encroaches
on the territory of the sciences as well as
humanities, and transcends the conventional
boundaries of both while addressing question
from the distant past and pressing present –
perhaps with implications for the future. (This
definition of anthropology emphasizes that it is an
academic field for understanding the
interconnection and interdependence of biological
and cultural aspects of human experience at all
times and in all places.)
• “WHO AM I?” (What could be the answer to the
question?)
• Anthropology considers human experience
as an interplay of “nature”, referring to
genetic inheritance which sets the
individual’s potentials, and “nurture”,
referring to the sociocultural environment.

• Perhaps, the most important contribution of

anthropology is providing insights into the
nature of self-based on continuous
understanding of the basic elements of
culture.
 The Cultural Construction of Self and
Identity
• Britist anthropologist Edward Tylor defines culture
as “….. that complex whole which includes
knowledge, belief, art, moral, law, customs, and
any other capabilities and habits acquired by man
as a member of society.”
• Anthropologist emphasize that culture is not
behaviour itself but the shared understanding that
guide and are expressed in behaviour.
• Thus, one may say that culture provides patterns
of “way of life”.
• Culture, being diverse, self and identity may
have different meanings in different cultures.

• German Anthropologist Martin Sokefeld

believes that the concept of self is a
necessary supplement to the concept of
culture in anthropology and should be
regarded as a human universal. Culture and
self thus become complementary concepts
that have to be understood in relation to one
another.
• In Social anthropology, the concept of identity
was used mostly in context of “ethnic identity”,
pointing out sameness of the self with others,
that is, to a consciousness of sharing certain
characteristics (e.g. language, culture, etc.) within
a group.

• There are two ways in which the concept of

self is viewed in different societies:
• EGOCENTRIC – the self is seen as an autonomous
and distinct individual.
• SOCIOCENTRIC – the self is contingent on a
situation or social setting.
• Christie Kiefer, the Japanese possess a
sociocentric view of the self in which the
memberships of a person in a particular social
group defines the boundaries of the self.
Independence between the person and the group
is more valued than independence.

• Francis Hsu attributes a sociocentric view of the

Chinese. He explains that the Chinese prioritize
kin ties and cooperation.
• From the similarities and differences in
characteristics among individuals, people
construct their social identities.
• Identity Toolbox refers to the features of a
person’s identity that he or she chooses to
emphasize in constructing a social self.
• Characteristics such as kinship, gender and age
are almost universally, used to differentiate
people.
• Other characteristic, such as ethnicity, personal
appearance, and socioeconomic status are not
always used in every society.
• Family membership
• Language
• Personal naming, a universal practice with
numerous cross cultural variations, establishes a
child’s birth right and social identity. A name is an
important device to individualize a person and
legitimize him or her as a member of a social
group such as a family. Personal names in all
societies are intimate markers of a person which
differentiates him or her from others. A person’s
name may symbolically represent his or her
cultural self. Hence many cultures mark the
naming of a child with a special ceremony.
• One’s identity is not inborn. It is something people
continuously develop in life.
 Three – Phased Rite of Passage
Arnold Van Gennep

• Separation – people detach from their former

identity to another.
• Liminality – a person transitions from one identity to
another.
• Incorporation – the change in one’s status is officially
incorporated.

• Rites of Passage help a person adjust from social

dimensions of his or her life to the others. However,
sometimes individuals disagree on their perspective
identities.
• Anthony Wallace and Raymond Fogelson –
coined the term “identity struggles” to
characterize interaction in which there is a
discrepancy between the identity a person
claims to possess and the identity attributes
to that person by others. Moreover,
individuals may also be confused in defining
their personal identity where there is a clash
between self-identification and inherited
collective identification emerging from the
cultural changes and conflicting norms and
values in the postmodern society.
• Golubovic – suggests that in order to attain self-
identification, individuals have to overcome many
obstacles such as traditionally established habits and
externally imposed self-images.

• Cognitive Anthropologists – suggest in maintaining a

relatively stable and coherent self, members of the
multicultural society have no choice but to internalize
divergent cultural models and should reject or
suppress identifications that may conflict with other
self-presentations.

• Katherine Ewing – “illusion of wholeness” exhibits

how individual selves throughout the world
continuously reconstitute themselves into new selves
in response to internal and external stimuli.
• Therefore, the cohesiveness and continuity
of self are illusory, for the reason that the
postmodern man has lost his right and
stopped striving to become an autonomous
and active part of the process of self-
determination and a particular
identification with one’s own community,
the most unimportant philosophical task of
a modern man today is to “work on
yourself” just like in Socratic message
“know thyself”
 The Self as Embedded in Culture
• Clifford Geertz (1973), an American anthropologist, offers a
reformulation of the concept of culture which favours a symbolic
interpretative model of culture. He defines culture as a system
of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means
of which people communicate, perpetuate, and develop their
knowledge about and attitudes toward life. Further, he proposes
that it is necessary that humans give meanings to their
experiences so that order in the world can be established.

• He agrees with Max Weber, that “man is an animal suspended in

webs of significance he himself has spun”, in which those webs
are perceived to be symbolic of culture. This semiotic approach
to culture is helpful in getting inside a conceptual world where
human beings live. Thus, the concept of culture has its impact
on the concept of man.
• Man is defined by his genetic
potentials shaped into actual
accomplishments which are made
possible by culture. Geertz also
emphasizes that human nature is
interdependent with culture: “
Without men, no culture, certainly;
but equally, and more significantly,
without culture, no men”.
• Likewise Robbins considered human beings as
cultural animals as they create the meanings of
objects, persons, behaviors, emotions, and
events, and behave in accordance with
meanings they assume to be true. Every aspect
of their lives is filled with meaning, and if they
share the meanings they impose on their
experiences, they are operating within the same
culture. Cultural differences exist when groups
of people assign different meanings to different
life events and things. Hence, the self is
embedded in culture.
 DISCOVER
• The concept of self can be viewed in two
ways: egocentric and sociocentric. In the
egocentric view, the self is seen as an
autonomous and distinct individual. In
sociocentric view, the self is considered as
contingent on a situation or social setting.
• Personal names in all societies represent the
self.
• Rites of passage usually involve ritualactivities to
prepare individuals for new roles from one stage
of life to another. Van Gennep believes that
changes in one’s identity are marked by a three-
phased rite of passage: separation, liminality, and
incorporation.
• Individuals tend to experience struggles when
there is discrepancy between a person’s assumed
identity and the identity imposed by others and
the society.
• Self-identification may be attained by overcoming
traditional practices or through internalizing
divergent cultural models and suppressing any
conflicting self-representations.
• The concept of the “illusion of wholesome”
implies that the cohesiveness and continuity
of self are only illusory.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF
• The development of self-understandingin
adolescence involves a number of theories
about self, identity, and personality. Theories
about the self give way for the identification
of which characteristics of the self are relevant
and the understanding of how these
characteristics are related to each other. They
foster discourse on the different
conceptualizations of identity based on
different sociocultural context.
As the following theories illustrate, adolescents
construct their own understanding of their selves
well by integrating the information into their
lives. Understanding the self is highest when the
different parts of the self become integrative.
Consistent with Carl Roger’s theory of self, an
important aspect of understanding the self
awareness- how much an adolescent is aware of
his or her own psychological make-up, what
makes him or her unique as a person, as well as
his or her strengths and weaknesses.
 WILLIAM JAME’S CONCEPT OF SELF:
THE ME-SELF AND THE I-SELF
• The self is divided into two categories:
– A. I-Self – refers to the self that knows who he or
she is which is also called the Thinking Self. It
reflects the soul of a person or the mind which is
also called the Pure Ego.
– B. Me-Self - is the emperical self which refers to
the person’s personal experiences.
– Material self
– Social self
– Spiritual self
• Material self is attributed to an individual’s
physical attributes and material possessions
that contribute to one’s self image.
• Social self refers to who a person is and how he
or she acts in social situations. (different social self depending
on the context of a social situation).

• Spiritual self refers to the most intimate and

important part of the self ( person’s purpose, core values,
conscience, and moral behavior.) James believes that the path

to understanding the spiritual elf requires

introspection.
 CARL ROGERS’ SELF THEORY:
REAL AND IDEAL SELF
• Another aspects of self-understanding that is
important in adolescent years focuses on SELF-
CONCEPT.(IMAGE TO ONESELF)
• Psychologist Carl Rogers defines the self as
flexible and changing perception of personal
identity. The self is the center of experience
(Rathus,2017).
• He suggests that the self develops from
interactions with significant people and
awareness of one’s own characteristics and level
of functioning.
• According to Rogers, human beings are always
striving for self-fulfillment or self-actualization.
When the needs of the self are denied, severe
anxiety may arise. Central to achieving self-
actualization is the development of self-
concept.
– Two components of self-concept
• Real self- consists of all the ideas, including the
awareness of what one is and what one can do.
• Ideal self- is the person’s conception of what one should
be or what one aspires to be. (goals and ambition)
 MULTIPLE VERSUS UNIFIED SELF,
TRUE VERSUS FALSE SELF
• The construction of multiple selves varies across
different interpersonal and intrapersonal roles
and relationships. Coping with different selves
constitutes a formidable task among adolescents.
These challenges contribute heavily to the young
person’s struggle for unified self. The task of
integrating one’s multiple selves naturally causes
concern. Given the enormous challenges of self-
integration, it is important that adolescents are
supported in their effort to create a consistent,
coherent,or unified theory of self.
• Winnicott has found that the self
is composed of true self and the
false self. The function of the false
self is to hide and protect the true
self. Researchers have found that
adolescents’ perceptions of
themselves can change depending
on the situation.
 THE SELF AS PROACTIVE AND
AGENTIC
• Albert Bandura posits that human, through
their agency are perceived as proactive agents
of experiences. Agency embodies the
endowments, belief systems, self-regulatory
capabilities, and distributed structures and
functions through which personal influence is
exercised, rather than reside as a discrete
entity. The core features of agency enable
people to play a part in their self-
development, adaptation, and self-renewal.
 • Main Features of Human Agency

a. Intentionally
b. Forethought
c. Self-reactiveness
d. Self-reflectiveness

-self- efficacy refers to individual’s belief that he or she is

capable to perform a task which influences whether he
or she will think pessimistically or optimistically and in
ways that are self-enhancing or self-hindering. Efficacy
beliefs also play a central role in self-regulation which is
the ability of an individual to control his or her behavior
without having to rely on others for help.
 THE SELF AS THE
CENTRAL ARCHETYPE
• Central to Carl Jung’s theory of the self is the
concept of archetypes.
• Basically, archetypes are universal models after
which roles are patterned. The archetype
represents the hidden potentialities of the
psyche, or total personality.
• Jung suggests that the psyche continues to
develop throughout life, but the psyche starts to
show a definite form and content during
adolescence.
• According to Jung, archetypes reside in the
personal unconscious ( forgotten experiences )
that is common to all human beings, known as
the collective unconscious.

• Four Major Archetypes

– Persona
– Shadow
– Animus/anima
– Self

-The ego is the individual’s conscious perception of the

self.
 SIGMUND FREUD’S CONSTRUCTION
OF SELF AND PERSONALITY
• According to Sigmund Freud, the dynamic
forces within the self are many and in
inevitable conflict.
• He argues that the mind is composed of three
structures through which personality is
formed:
– A. id
– B. ego
– C. superego
• id refers to the component of the personality characterized by
its need to satisfy basic urges and desires.( pleasure-seeking side,
impulsive, child-like, and demands instant gratification. ) Id
(Unconscious mind) – “’makahayop”. Id has no awareness other
than it wants what it wants. In simple words, id is a collection of
urges fighting to be fulfilled.

• ego refers to the “I” and operates on reality principle and

controls the id. Ego (Conscious mind) – “makatao”. While the
id is totally irrational, the ego is able to discern what is right or
wrong based on context.d is totally irrational, the ego is abng based
on

• Super-Ego (maka-Diyos) or the conscience. Sometimes referred

to as the “voice of God.” Super ego strives for perfection. Its
main concern is to decide and act in accordance to what is
morally and socially acceptable standards.
r the conscience
• Sometimes referred to as the “voice of God.” Super ego strives for perfection.
• Its main concern is to decide and act in accordance to what is morally and socially acceptable standards.
Id, Ego, and Superego
• PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
– oral stage (birth to 1st year, sucking &biting)

– Anal stage (2nd year, elimination of body

wastes-through toilet training….basic rule of
society)

– Phallic stage (occurs around 3&6,

examining, touching, fondling, or displaying
their genitals..sex curiosity-fixations may
lead to abnormal sex behaviors in later life.)
–Latency stage ( 7 to 12 years,
sexual energy is repressed because
children become occupied with
school.)
–Genital stage (adolescence to
adulthood, genital area and
individuals seek to satisfy their
drives from sexual relationships.
Sexual problems.)
THE ROLE OF ERIK ERIKSON’S THEORY
IN UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
• Trust versus mistrust- first year of life.
-Properly cared-not well-cared
• Autonomy versus shame and doubt- first three years
of life.
-Independence of thought and confidence to think
and act for oneself- overly protected, overly
dependent (abilities).
• Initiative versus guilt- around 3 to 5 years of age.
-Sense of responsibility-made to feel irresponsible.
• Industry versus inferiority-elementary school years
-Face the task of developing knowledge and skills,
encouraged in their effort-receive little of
encouragement will doubt their own abilities.
• Identity formation versus identity confusion-
adolescence.
-Face the task of finding out who they are,
what they are, and what they want in life. They
are confronted with many roles and
responsibilities. If parents provide proper
support, they will develop positive identity- if
they are not adequately supported, they will
feel insecure and confusion.
• Intimacy versus isolation- adulthood, explore
personal relationships ( intimate relationships)
-Successful and stable- inability to develop will
lead to mistrust and isolation.
• Generativity versus stagnation- middle
adulthood
-A person’s desire to contibute to the world by
teaching, leading, and guiding the next
generation and doing activities for the
community- fail to attian it will feel worthless.
• Integrity versus despair- old age, focused on self-
reflection.
-Reflect on the significant events, satisfied and
proud of their accomplishments-unsuccessful,
will fell their life has been wasted and will
experience regrets and despair.