The self is constructed through social interaction
The self is constructed through social interaction
I was not born a woman. Rather, I have become one. As the result of history, social forces, conditioning or ideology. Gender- the womanhood and my role in it is not inevitable or fixed, it is not, necessarily, determined by my biological characteristics and human nature. Contrary, it is an addition to the physiology and the product of the social world. Society has created certain rules and ideas of how the womanhood is supposed to look and expects me to behave in a certain way. Therefore my living and the experience of myself are changed by being classified as a woman. Sometimes it may seem I am an individual, which behave freely and create itself by acts of its own will. However, the most of my living is determined by the society I live in. 'I myself am, of course, a social construct; each of us is' (Ian Hacking 1999:2).
Rosenberg says that social factors play a major role in formation of the self and that self arises out of social experience and interaction (Philip Blumstein 2001:183). 'Without others there would be no such things as a “self”' (Philippe Rochat 2009:35). This essay will explore different aspects of how society participates in construction of the self. First, how others shape somebody’s self, then, how that somebody constructs itself in regard of others. At the end it will consider an opposing view, i.e. not how an individual is created from the 'outside' - society, but from the 'inside' - body.
The self is created and exists only on a social basis, in relation to other people, as we see the effects of our actions in the responses of others. This self is not fixed but constantly changes through the interaction between social beings. In childhood an individual becomes a member of society and undergoes the primary socialization which significant others, usually parents, siblings and peers, are in charge of. 'The child takes on the significant others’ roles and attitudes, that is, internalizes
I was not born a woman. Rather, I have become one. As the result of history, social forces, conditioning or ideology. Gender- the womanhood and my role in it is not inevitable or fixed, it is not, necessarily, determined by my biological characteristics and human nature. Contrary, it is an addition to the physiology and the product of the social world. Society has created certain rules and ideas of how the womanhood is supposed to look and expects me to behave in a certain way. Therefore my living and the experience of myself are changed by being classified as a woman. Sometimes it may seem I am an individual, which behave freely and create itself by acts of its own will. However, the most of my living is determined by the society I live in. 'I myself am, of course, a social construct; each of us is' (Ian Hacking 1999:2).
Rosenberg says that social factors play a major role in formation of the self and that self arises out of social experience and interaction (Philip Blumstein 2001:183). 'Without others there would be no such things as a “self”' (Philippe Rochat 2009:35). This essay will explore different aspects of how society participates in construction of the self. First, how others shape somebody’s self, then, how that somebody constructs itself in regard of others. At the end it will consider an opposing view, i.e. not how an individual is created from the 'outside' - society, but from the 'inside' - body.
The self is created and exists only on a social basis, in relation to other people, as we see the effects of our actions in the responses of others. This self is not fixed but constantly changes through the interaction between social beings. In childhood an individual becomes a member of society and undergoes the primary socialization which significant others, usually parents, siblings and peers, are in charge of. 'The child takes on the significant others’ roles and attitudes, that is, internalizes