Lecture 1 Handout

Lecture 1: The Self and Society

“ If there is one value that seems beyond reproach, in our current confused ethical climate, it is that of the self and the terms that cluster around it - autonomy, identity, individuality, liberty, choice, fulfilment.” (Nikolas Rose)

“ Currently we engage in structuring our lives so they appear individually meaningful, organized, coherent, and responsible. This individualized self is the primary, though not exclusive, subjectivity game in town …” [James A Holstein and Jaber F Gubrium, The Self We Live By (2000)]

Module themes: Self and Society

• The concept of ‘the Self’. Its changing and contested usage in everyday and academic discourse.
• The self-society relation. How does understanding the processes of self-formation shed new light on social issues?
• The society-self relation. How have changing social conditions altered our sense of self?

What is The Self?

Human beings have ‘a self’ and a consciousness of ‘self’ distinct from others:
• A psychological structure containing the various processes of mental life, embodied in the individual
• The ‘I’: personality, subjectivity and experience

The self is a ‘social’ self emerging out of and integrated into social interactions and social settings. Myth of the ‘self-contained’ individual – society enables as well as constrains individuality.

The self is of society but cannot be reduced to a collection of social roles or social identities. People have individual personalities and inner life. Their agency emerges out of their particular experience and subjectivity.

Once we accept the notion of a social self this raises important questions about changing social conditions and changing experiences of selfhood

Historical study and cross-cultural comparisons show major differences in both:
• How self is experienced
• How the relationship between self and social setting is understood

Debating the Self in Contemporary Society

• The Self is a construction but what kind of construction?

 Emerging out of psychological development
 Facilitated by interpersonal relations
 Produced by particular social conditions
 ‘Invented’ through culture and practices

• An object of contemplation or an experiencing subject?
• The knowing, reflexive individual and the workings of the unconscious
• The powerful self versus the disciplined self
• Achieving true selfhood – a crucial goal or an alienating fiction?