SAS 2nd

The Self in History

The idea of the self has changed throughout history. Ancient, medieval, modern, and postmodern thinkers all define the self differently. There is no single timeless understanding of the self.

William James

An American psychologist and philosopher who proposed that the self has two parts:

• I – the subject that experiences ("the knower")

• Me – the object that is experienced ("the known")

Example:

• I am studying.

• Me is the student who has grades, memories, and relationships.

I

The active, thinking, experiencing self.

• Makes decisions

• Thinks

• Acts

• Experiences the world

Think: the observer.

Me

The self that can be observed and described.

Includes:

• your body

• personality

• social roles

• possessions

• memories

Think: the observed self.

Dualist-Essentialist Self

The traditional view that the self has a fixed inner essence and that mind and body are separate.

Hyphenated Elaborations

Terms like bio-psycho-social that combine concepts but still assume they are separate parts.

A Conceptual Morass

A confusing collection of many competing definitions of the self with no clear consensus.

Social Identity Theory

The theory that part of our identity comes from the social groups we belong to.

Problem of Dualism

The assumption that concepts like mind/body or self/society exist as separate independent entities.

Problem of Essentialism

The belief that people possess a fixed, unchanging inner nature or essence.

Self as Social Accomplishment

The idea that the self is created and maintained through social interaction.

Reflexivity

The ability to reflect on and evaluate one's own thoughts, actions, and identity.

Modernist Constructionism

The view that reality is socially constructed but objective knowledge can still be pursued.

Macro Approach

Studies how large social structures like culture, institutions, and ideology shape the self.

Micro Approach

Studies how everyday interactions and conversations construct identity.

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)

Examines how language creates and reinforces power, inequality, and ideology.

Foucauldian Discourse Analysis

Analyzes how discourse and power shape what is accepted as truth, knowledge, and normality.

Discourse

A system of language, ideas, and practices that shapes how reality is understood.

The Centered Self

The traditional belief that individuals possess one stable, unified identity.

The Decentered Self

The postmodern view that identity is fluid, multiple, and constantly changing.

The Postmodern Turn

A shift away from universal truths toward multiple perspectives and socially constructed realities.

The Collapse of Truth

The rejection of a single objective truth in favor of multiple situated truths.

The Positioned Subject

The idea that people understand the world from particular social positions and experiences.

Situated Knowledge

The concept that all knowledge comes from a specific perspective; no viewpoint is completely objective.

Self in Everyday Life

Goffman's idea that people perform different identities depending on social situations.

Inner Self

The private thoughts, emotions, and experiences known primarily to oneself.

Social Self

The aspect of identity shaped through interaction with other people.

Critical Self

The one that can identify and deconstruct the myths that govern its life, and so refuse to take itself as simply given.

Self as a Project in Progress

The idea that identity is continually developed, revised, and reconstructed throughout life.

Digital Self

The version of oneself presented and constructed through digital platforms and social media.

Power

The ability to influence or get others to act; according to Dahl, getting someone to do something they otherwise would not do.

Structural Power

The capacity to set what counts as normal, so that people consent to an arrangement without ever being forced into it.

Status Quo

The existing social order or current state of society.

Common Sense

Ideas treated as natural or obvious even though they are socially constructed.

Naturalization

The process by which socially created ideas come to appear natural and unquestionable.

Binary Opposition

A way of thinking that divides concepts into opposing pairs, such as male/female or good/evil.

Violent Hierarchy

Derrida's idea that binary oppositions privilege one side over the other.

Deconstruction

Derrida's method of exposing hidden assumptions and hierarchies within texts and ideas.

Locate

The first step in deconstruction: identify the binary opposition being used.

Reverse

The second step in deconstruction: temporarily invert the hierarchy to show the value of the subordinate term.

Displace

The final step in deconstruction: move beyond the binary by questioning the opposition itself.

Myth

Something that is not real.

Barthesian Myth

A second-order language that naturalizes powerful ideas.

Ideology

A system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of power relations in society.

Sign and Signifier

In semiotics, the signifier is the physical form (word, image, sound), while the signified is the concept it represents; together they form a sign.

The Three-Step Critical Move

The process of deconstruction: Locate the binary, Reverse the hierarchy, and Displace the opposition.