Lesson 4:

The Self According To Sociology and

Sociology and Anthropology are two interrelated disciplines that contributes to the understanding of
self.
Sociology presents the self as a product of modern society. It is the science that studies the
development, structure, interaction, and collective behavior of human being.
Anthropology is the study of humanity. This broad field takes an interdisciplinary approach to
looking at human culture, both past and present. The following set of sociologists and anthropologist
offered their views about self.
Anthropology Sociology
Emphasis on culture and itsbetween
Differences physicalAnthropology
Emphasis on andsociety and its origins
Sociology
and social characteristics (kinship, and development (social classes,
language, religion, gender, art) institutions & structures, social
movements)
 The Self and Person in the Contemporary Anthropology
The four subfields of anthropology – Archeology, Biological Anthropology, Linguistics, and Cultural
Anthropology, suggest that human beings are similar and different in varying ways and tendencies.
The subfields of Anthropology are as follows:
Archeology
Focus on the study of the past and how it may have contributed to the present ways of how people
conduct their daily lives.
Archeologists have so far discovered the unique ways in which human beings adapted to the
changes in their environment in order for them to survive.
Among their discoveries around the world is the species, homo sapiens did not become extinct
because of their ability to think, use tools and learn from experience.
In relating to the contemporary society, people still aim for survival, for their basic needs to be
fulfilled and to live legacy to their society.
Biological Anthropology
Focus on how the human body adapts to the different earth environments.
Among the activities of Anthropologists are identification of probable causes of diseases, physical
mutation, and death, evolution, and comparison of dead and living primates.
They are interested in explaining how the biological characteristics of human being affects their way
of living
Linguistic Anthropology.
Focused on using language as means to discover a group’s manner of social interaction and
their worldview.
Anthropologists in this field want to discover how language is used to create and share
meanings, to form ideas and concepts and to promote social change.
Furthermore, they also study how language and modes of communication changes over time.

Cultural Anthropology.
Focused in knowing what makes one group’s manner of living forms an essential part of the
member’s personal and societal identity. This encompasses the principles of Theory of
Cultural Determinism which suggests that the human nature is determined by the kind of
culture he is born and grew up in.
The following are the ways in which culture may manifest itself in people:
Symbols. These are the words, gestures, pictures or objects that have recognized or accepted
meaning in a particular culture
Heroes. These are persons from the past or present who have characteristics that are
important in culture. They may be real of work of fictions.
Rituals. These are activities participated by a group of people for the fulfilment of desired
objectives and are concerned to be socially essential.
Values. These are considered to be the core of every culture. These are unconscious, neither
discuss or observed, and can only be inferred from the way people act and react to situations.

The field of Anthropology offers another way by which a person can view themselves. As self
is formed or determined by the past and present condition, by biological characteristics, the
communication and language use, and the lifestyle we choose to live.
The Self, Society, and Culture
People put a halt on speculative debates on the relationship between the body and soul, eventually
renamed body and the mind.

Thinkers just eventually got tired of focusing on the long-standing debate since sixth century BC
between the relationship of these two components of the human person.

Thinkers just settled on the idea that there are two components of the human person and whatever
relationship these two have is less important than the fact that there is a self.

The relationship between the self and the external world.

We may be gifted with intellect and the capacity to rationalize things but at the end of the day, our
growth and development and consequentially, out selves are truly products of our interactions
external reality.
 The Self and Culture
Remaining the same person and turning chameleon by adapting to one’s context seems paradoxical.
According to Marcel Mauss, every self has two faces: personne and moi.
Moi refers to a person’s sense of who he is, his body, and his basic identity, his biological givenness.
Moi is a person’s basic identity.
Personne is composed of the social concepts of what it means to be who he is.
Personne has much to do with what it means to live in a particular institution, a particular family, a
particular religion, a particular nationality and how to behave given expectations and influences from
others.

This dynamics and capacity for different personne can be llustrated better cross-culturally.
In the Philippines, Filipinos tend to consider their territory as a part of who they are.
This includes considering their immediate surrounding as part of them, thus the perennial “tapat ko, linis
ko.”
Language is another interesting aspect of social constructivism.
Example of interesting facet of our language is its being gender-neutral.
It is a salient part of culture and ultimately, has a tremendous effect in our crafting of the
self.
In one research, it was found that North Americans are more likely to attribute being unique
to themselves and claim that they are better than most people in doing what they love doing.
Japanese people, on the other hand, have been seen to display a degree of modesty.
If a self is born into a particular society or culture, the self will have to adjust according to its
exposure.
 Self in Families
The kind of family that we are born in, the resources available to us
(human, spiritual, economic), and the kind of development that we will have will certainly affect us.
Human beings are born virtually helpless and the dependency period of a human baby to its parents for
nurturing is relatively longer than most other animals.
In trying to achieve the goal of becoming a fully realized human, a child enters a system of
relationships, most important of which is the family.
Human persons learn the ways of living and therefore their selfhood by being in a family. It is what a
family initiates a person to become that serves as the basis for this person’s progress.
Notice how kids reared in a respectful environment becomes respectful as well and the converse if
raised in a converse family.
Some behaviors and attitudes, on the other hand, may be indirectly taught through rewards and
punishments.
Without a family, biologically and sociologically, a person may not even survive or become a human
person.
Gender and the Self
Gender is one of those loci of the self that is subject to alteration, change, and development.
In the Philippines, husbands for most part are expected to provide for the family. The eldest man in a
family is expected to head the family and hold it in.
Nancy, Chodorow, a feminist, argues that because mothers take the role of taking care of children,
there is a tendency for girls to imitate the same and reproduce the same kind of mentality of women
as care providers in the family.
Men on the other hand, in the periphery of their own family are taught early on how to behave like a
man. This normally includes holding in one's emotion, being tough, fatalistic, not to worry about
danger, and admiration for hard physical labor.
The sense of self that is being taught makes sure that an individual fits in a particular environment, is
dangerous and detrimental in the goal of truly finding one’s self, self-determination, and growth of
the self.
Gender has to be personally discovered and asserted and not dictated by culture and the society.