GROUP 1 REPORTERS in UNDERSTANDING THE

SELF
ADORA, JEREMIAH B.
ALTO, LLOYD JOHN
ASUPAN, JONNA MAE
BERNARDO, JELO C
 Lesson 2: The Self, Society, and Culture
Objectives:
1. Explain the relationship between and among the self, society and
culture;
2. Describe and discuss the different ways by which society and culture
shape the self;
3. Compare and contrast how the self can be influenced by the different
institution in the society: and ;
4. Examine one’s self against the different views of self were
discussed in the class.
 What is self?
Across time and history, the self has been debated, discussed,
and fruitfully or otherwise conceptualized by different thinkers in
philosophy. Eventually with the advent of the social sciences, it
became possible for new ways and paradigm to reexamine the
true nature of the self.

The two components of the human person;

The body and the soul, eventually renamed body

and the mind.
 What is the relationship between external reality (external world)
and the self?
Example: The Famous story of Tarzan.
The sole interaction of Tarzan with the apes and other
animals made him just like them. Disappointedly, human persons
will not develop as a human person without intervention. The
story was supposed to be based on real life, challenges the long-
standing notion of human persons being a particular kind of
being in spectrum of living entities.

After all, our selves are not special because of the soul
infused into us. 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, our selves are truly products
of our interaction with external reality.
 What is the Self?
The self, in contemporary literature and even in common sense, is
commonly defined by the following characteristic, “separate, self-
contained, independent, consistent, unitary, and private” (Steve
1996).

Separate means self is distinct from other selves. Unitary in that it is the center of all experiences
and thoughts that run through a certain person. It
is like the chief command post in an individual
Self-contained and Independent because in where all processes, emotion and thoughts
itself it can exist. converge.

Private because each person sorts out information,

Its consistency allows it to be studied, described,
feelings and emotions and thought processes
and measured. within the self. The whole process is never
accessible to anyone but the self.
  The concern then of this lesson is in
understanding the vibrant relationship between the  An example of a social
self and external reality. This perspective is known as construct is money or the
the social constructionist perspective. “Social concept of currency, as
constructionist argue for a merge view of ‘the person’
and ‘their social context’ where the boundaries of people in society have
one cannot easily be separated from the boundaries agreed to give it
of other” (Steven 1996). importance/value. ... Strong
social constructs rely on the
o Social constructivist argue that the self should not be human perspective and
seen as a static entity that stays through and through.
Rather, the self has to be seen as something that is in knowledge that does not
unceasing flux, in a constant struggle with external reality just exist, but is rather
and is malleable in its dealing with society. The self is always constructed by society.
in participation with social life and its identity subjected to
influences here and there. Having these perspective
considered should draw one into concluding that the self is
truly multifaceted.
 Self and Culture
Remaining the same person and turning chameleon by adapting to one’s
context seems paradoxical. However, the French Anthropologist Marcel Mauss
has an explanation for this phenomenon.

According to Marcel Mauss, every self has two faces: personne and moi.
Moi refers to a person’s basic identity. Personne, on the other hand, 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.

xample: An OFW adjusting life in another country.

 The same malleability(able to change) can be seen in how some
men easily transform into sweet, docile guys when trying to woe and court a
particular woman suddenly just change rapidly after hearing a sweet “yes”.
This cannot be considered a conscious change on the part of the guy, or on
the part of the law-abiding Filipino the example. The self simply morphed
according to the circumstances and contexts.

In the Philippines, Filipinos tend to consider their territory as part of who they are. This
includes considering their immediate surrounding as part of them, thus the perennial
“tapat ko, linis ko”. Filipino most probably do not consider national road as something
external to who they are. It is part of them and they are part of it, thus crossing the road
whenever and wherever becomes a no-brainer. In another country, however, the Filipinos
recognizes that he is in a foreign territory where nothing technically belongs to him. He
has to follow rules or else he will be apprehended.
 Language is another interesting aspect of this social constructivism. The Filipino
language is incredibly interesting to talk about. The way by which we articulate our love is
denoted by the phrase, “ Mahal kita.” This, of course, is the Filipino translation of “ I love you.”
The Filipino brand of this articulation of love unlike in English, does not specify the subject and
the object of love, there is no specification of who loves and who is loved. There is simply a
word for love, mahal and the pronoun kita, which is a second person pronoun that refers to the
speaker and the one being talked to. In the Filipino language, unlike in English, there is no
distinction between the lover and the beloved. They are one.
Interesting too is the word, mahal. In Filipino, the word can mean both “love” and “expensive.”
In our language, love is intimately bound with value, being expensive, being precious.
Something expensive is valuable. Someone who is love is valuable to us. The Sanskrit origin of
the word love is “lubh,” which means desire, valuable.

Another interesting facet of our language is its being gender-neutral. In English, Spanish, and
other languages, the distinction is clear between a third person male and third person female
pronoun. He and she; el and ella. In Filipino, it is plain “siya.” There is no specification of
gender. Our language does not specify between male and female. We bot call it “siya.”
 In these
Thevaried examples,
self and we have seen our
the Development language
of the Socialhas something to
World
do with culture, it is salient part of culture and ultimately has a
tremendous
So how do effect
people actively in our
produce theircrafting of theHow
social worlds? self.do children growing up become social
beings? How can a boy turn out to just be like an ape? How do twins coming out from the same mother
turn out to be This isdifferent
terribly one of when
the reason
given upwhy cultural divide spells out differences in
for adoption?
how one regards oneself.

More than his givenness , one is believe to be in active participation in the shaping of the self. Most often,
we think human persons are just passive actors in the whole process of the shaping of selves. That men and
women are born with particularities that that they can no longer change. Recent studies, however, indicate
that men and women in their growth and development engage actively in the shaping of the self. The
unending terrain of metamorphosis of the self is mediated by language. “Language as both a publicly
shared and privately utilized symbol system is the site where the individual and the social make and
remake each other” (Schwartz, White and Lutz 1993).
 Mead and Vygotsky
• For Mead and Vygotsky, the way that human person develop is with the use
language acquisition and interaction with others. The way we process information
is normally a form of an internal dialogue in our head. Those who deliberate about
moral dilemmas undergo this internal dialog. “Should I do this or that?” “But if I
do this, it will be like this.” “Don’t I want other option?” And so cognitive and
emotional development of a child is always a mimicry of how it is done in social
world, in the external reality where he is in.

 Both Vygotsky and Mead treat the human mind as something that is made
constituted through language as experienced in the external world and as
encountered in dialogs with outers.
 Vygotsky's Cognitive Development Theory argues that cognitive abilities are
socially guided and constructed. As such, culture serves as a mediator for the
formation and development of specific abilities, such as learning, memory,
attention, and problem solving.
 • Example a child internalizes real life dialogs that he
has had with others, with his family, his primary
caregiver, or his playmates. They apply this to their
mental and practical problems along with the social and
cultural infusion brought about by the said dialogs.
George Herbert Mead believed that people develop self-images through
interactions with other people. He argued that the self, which is the part of a person's
personality consisting of self-awareness and self-image, is a product of social
experience.

• This take place as a child assumes the “other” through language and
role-play. A child conceptualizes his notion of “self” through this.
Example when a child his doing a role play with his toys, How they
make scripts and dialogs for their toys as they play with them.
 Self in Families
Sociologist focus on the different
institutions and powers at play in the
society. Among these, the most
prominent is the family. Human person
are one of those beings whose
importance of family cannot be denied.
Human beings are born virtually helpless
and the dependency period of a human
baby to its parents for nurturing is
relatively longer than most of the
animals. Learning therefore is critical in
our capacity to actualize our potential of
becoming humans. In trying to achieve
the goal of becoming a fully realized
human, a child must enters a system of
relationships, most important of which is
the family.
 Self in Families
 Family identity is a central expression of
our values. Family identity can create not
only a sense of belonging, it can also give
• Another example: a usual teleserye plot of kids
families a mode for affirming values,
getting swapped in the Hospital and getting
providing kids a buffer against peer
reared by a different family gives an obvious
pressure, and clarifying goals for children.
manifestation of the point being made in this
section.
Example is: When parents appreciate
their children and guide them toward their
strengths, their children naturally develop
“One is who he is because of healthy self-esteem and confidence.
Without a family, biologically and
his family for the most part.” sociologically, a person may not even
survive or become a human person.
Going back for to the Tarzan example. In
more ways than one, the survival of
Tarzan is already a miracle. His being a
 Gender and the Self
Another important aspect of the self is gender. Gender
is one of loci (important) of the self that is subjected to
alteration, change, and development. We have seen in the
past years how people fought hard for the right to express,
validate, and assert their gender expression. Many
conservation may frown upon this and insist on the
biological. However, from the point of view of the social
sciences and the self, it is important to give one the leeway
to find, express, and live his identity. This form part of
selfhood that one cannot just dismiss. One maneuver into
the society and identifies himself as who he is by also
taking note of the gender identities. A wonderful anecdote
about Leo Tolstoy’s wife that can solidify the point is
narrated;
 Gender and the Self
Sonia Tolstoy, the wife of the famous Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, wrote when
she was 21, “I am nothing but a miserable crushed worm, whom no one
wants, whom no one loves, a useless creatures with morning sickness, and a
big belly, two rotten teeth, and a bad temper, a battered sense of dignity, and
a love which nobody wants and which nearly drive me insane.” A few years
later she wrote, “ It makes me laugh to read over this diary. It is so full of
contradiction, and one would think that I was such an unhappy woman. Yet is
there a happier woman than I ?” ( Tolstoy 1975)

This account illustrate that our gender, partly determines how we see ourselves in the
world. Oftentimes society forces a particular identity to us depending on our sex and/ or
gender. In the Philippines, husband for the most part are expected to provide for the
family. The eldest man in the family is expected to head the family and hold it in. Slight
modification have been on the way due to feminism and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT) activism for the most part, patriarchy has remained to be at works.
Nancy Chodorow, 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 in holdings one’s emotion, being tough, fatalistic,
not to worry about danger, and admiration for hard physical labor. Masculinity is learned by
integrating a young boy in a society. In the Philippines, young boys had to undergo
circumcision not just for the originals, clinical purposes of hygiene but also to assert their
manliness in the society. Circumcision plays another social role by initiating young boys
into manhood.

• The gender self is the shaped within a particular context of time and space. The
sense of self that is being taught makes sure that that an individual fits in a
particular environment. This is dangerous and detrimental in the goal of truly
findings 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.
 FIN&
THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING!