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Recommended: Philosophy about self
Introduction
In the following essay I will be reviewing and analysing a number of articles in relation to the self in terms of symbolism, the extended self and the beyond the extended self. I will also be further exploring these areas with other articles. “The self originates in the mind of persons and is that which characterizes an individual’s consciousness of his or her own being or identity” (Burke & Stets, 2009, p. 11). The self-concept is made up of three diverse dimensions which are self-esteem, the ideal self and lastly the real self.
Symbolism and the self
Wattanasuwan (2005) describes society today as a consumer culture where we surrond our every day life with consumption. Consumption is thus central to the meaningful practice of
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“Most consumer researchers were more comfortable with positivistic approaches than interpretive research.” (Ladik, Carrillat, & Tadajewski, 2015, p. 185)
Belk (1988) claims that “knowingly or unknowingly, intentionally or unintentionally, we regard our possessions as parts of ourselves”. (Belk, 1988, p.133) The extended self, according to Belk (1988), consists of our “body, internal processes, ideas, and experiences, and those persons, places, and things to which one feels attached. “ Belk (2013) notes that products/possessions serve as “not only as cues for others to form impressions about us also as markers for individual and collective memory”. (Belk, 2013, p. 478) In essence we are connected to our possessions through emotions. These possessions would be considered part of the extended self if there was linkage to a past experience (i.e. Nostalgia), if we spent a long time obtaining them or if we personalized them. These objects become a part of us. (Relate back to original
The first unit on our textbook Interactions by Ann Moseley and Jeanette Harris talks about the self-concept. It is hard to find a definition for the self-concept because it is certain beliefs about ethnicity, religion, and personalities combined. This unit has a number of readings by various authors where it shows struggles with the self. Self-identity, ethnic backgrounds, and self-esteem are the major aspects of those readings. After reading their writings I found that I could relate to their experiences. The three readings that got my attention were “Zero” By Paul Logan, “I’m Just Me” by Lylah Alphonse, and “The Jacket” by Gary Soto.
In unit one of Interactions, the authors Ann Moseley and Jeanette Harris showed a number of readings about the idea of the self. The self-concept is an important matter because people change with age constantly and their thoughts change as well. There are many factors that can affect any individual’s thought of self-concept such as growing up, life experiences, friends and family, and meeting new people. Moreover, a number of readings in unit one by different authors showing their experiences and struggles with self-concept such as ethnicities, economy status, and self-esteem issue. I have had similar experiences with several authors, which are, “Zero” by Paul Logan, “Living in two worlds” by Marcus Mabry, and “The Jacket” by Gary Soto.
What does sense of self-mean? It means what that person sees when they look in a mirror. Whether it is a decent, awful or an indifferent image. Everyone’s self-image is different, and that’s acceptable; normal even. No one person is exactly the same. The authors explain how a sense of self is like internal conflicts and the decision to lie in order to gain approval.
There are many people who are driven by consumerism and many people who wish they can get in touch with that type of world. Consumers are often promoted to advertise more of the products that they are buying to get more people to buy more products. Hari Kunzru, author of “Raj, Bohemian,” creates a narrator who is obsessed with maintaining his individuality and free will in a world that is overcome with consumerism. Believes that the world takes away individuality when consumerism comes into play and how hard it is to maintain their true self. In her LA Times article “Teen Haulers Create a Fashion Force,” Andrea Chang writes about the phenomenon of teenage Youtube users who make videos that publicize their latest shopping binges. She expresses
Throughout Elizabeth Winthrop’s short story, “The Golden Darters,” are symbols of how Emily, the main character, is growing up. The most obvious symbols are Emily piercing her ears, her father’s table where he works on the flies, and the golden darters.
In the section “Celebrations of the Self”, the pieces focus on gaining wisdom, living harmoniously with nature, and relying on what the individual believes to be right. Self reliance is encouraged by being able to “Trust t...
In her essay, Why We Keep Stuff: If You Want to Understand People, Take a Look at What They Hang On To, Caroline Knapp indicates the stuff to which we are attached shows important traits which define our personality. She affirms that our houses and workplaces are full of stuff. Although we do not use or need those things, we keep them. Besides, Knapp states we keep different types of stuff: the things we hang on to for “real” reasons (educational or labor reasons) and those that have unexplainable reasons, for instance, magazines, ribbons and transaction slips. Furthermore, Knapp indicates that our stuff has meaning, a personal and sentimental meaning. For this reason, she states that the things that we hang on to are testimonies to the ways
A symbol is any “‘object, act, event, quality, or relation which serves as a vehicle for conception’” (230). Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians by Barbara Myerhoff is a very intricate text which involves numerous aspects of symbolism. Myerhoff not only applies a much deeper meaning to deer, maize, and peyote, but she also uses these objects as a representation of divine beings and spirits. The deer, maize, and peyote are very powerful entities but together they form the deer-maize-peyote complex, which is central to the Huichol life. The unification of these disparate objects can be easily understood once they are analyzed on three different levels: exegetical, operational, and positional.
The book The Other Side is about a black girl who sees a white girl sitting on a fence almost every day. The black girls name is Clover while the white girls name is Anne. Clover asked Anne, “why are you sitting on the fence.” “You can see everything from up here.” Anne replied. The fence separated whites from blacks. Clover and Anne’s mothers said you can’t go across the fence.
... of consumer behaviour, lays emphasis on the objectivity of science and the consumer as a reasonable and sensible decision maker. While, the interpretive point of view is in contrast to that of the positivist, in that it emphasises on the importance of the subjective meaning of the consumers individual experience, hence, it suggest that whichever behaviour a consumer performs is subject to diverse interpretations to a certain extent than just a single explanation to it.
After reading the book, The Other Side, one can conclude the story is about two races (black and white) who are divided from each other by a fence. However, two girls, each from the opposite race, meet each other and form a bond. Thus, they use the fence to enjoy each other’s company instead of using it to keep them separated. After analyzing the story, the reader can conclude there is various evidence of symbolism, the audience for this particular story is children, and the tone of the book is inquisitiveness and innocence.
In life, especially in American culture, our existence revolves around the physical, materialistic possessions and goals. Every commercial, ad and salesman caters to those who need more “stuff”
How Consumer.ology Has Changed The Way I View Market Research & Made Me Skeptical Of It’s Findings Philip Graves’ Consumer.ology: The Market Research Myth, The Truth About Consumers, and the Psychology of Shopping serves as an excellent guide for understanding how to determine what decisions consumers will and won’t make. The book focuses on the market research industry and it’s accuracy and usefulness, or lack their of, in the process of studying consumer behavior. Graves, a consumer behavioral consultant, spent twenty years observing consumers as a market research manager—leading him to question traditional market research methods and identify discrepancies between the results produced by market research and the decisions consumers actually
A self is some sort of inner being or principle, essential to, but not identical with, the person as whole. It is that in a person that thinks and feels. The self is usually conceived in philosophy as that which one refer to with the word “I”. It is that part or aspects of a person that accounts for personal identity through time. In spite of all the ways one can change with time, the self is invariably same through time. A self is what is supposed to account for the fact that an individual is same person today as he/she was at the age of five, given that all his characteristics have changed over time. For instance, compared to his childhood, this individual is stronger, taller, and smarter; he has different aspirations and dreams, different thoughts and fears, his interests and activities are remarkably different. Yet, he is still the same ...
Self-esteem is critical evaluation of ones self, resulting in negative or positive thoughts about oneself (Decker, 2010; Kaya & Saçkes, 2004). The way an individual see’s themselves is imprortant in regards to how they behave and the daily decisions they make (Hamarta, 2004). With regards to adolelescents, self esteem is of particular importance, influencing every day decisions that can have a life long impact (Person & Year, 2007). Self esteem can be defined on the basis of the way one sees themselves. In this view of self esteem, there must be a reference point with which the individual compares themelves to although the view of themselves may be positive or negative with respect to that particular reference ppoint. In positive self-esteem the individual is satisified with the way he or she is and thus views themselves favorably with respect to that particular reference point. In contrast, in negative self-esteem, the individual fails to meet this ideal point of reference of how they should be externally (Decker, 2010).