- Understanding the Self -
Material Self
Table of contents
I shop, therefore, I am: I have
01 therefore I am
Shaping the way we see ourselves: the
02 role of consumer culture on our sense of
self and identity
- Understanding the Self -
I shop, therefore, I
01 am: I have
therefore I am?
I shop, therefore, I am: I
have therefore I am?
People are likely to purchase products that can relate
to their personality. Material possessions signify some
aspects of one’s sense of self and identity.
The decisions that go into the purchase of items and
certain services is dependent in a number of factors,
including financial constraints, availability of items
and services, and the influence of family and friends.
I shop, therefore, I am: I
have therefore I am?
However, the most important factor is determining whether these items
and services fall under:
● Wants. Synonymous with luxuries.
● Needs. These are important for survival.
In the process of acquiring material goods, people generally consider 2
things
● Utility. Concerned with how things serve a practical purpose
● Significance. Concerned with the meaning assigned to the object
According to John Heskett, A British writer and lecturer on
the economic, political, cultural and human value of
industrial design, design combines “need” and “desire” in
the form of a practical object that can also reflect the
user’s identity and aspirations through its form and
direction. For him there is a significance and function
behind everyday things. He explains the effect of design in
everyday life.
Roland Barthes
● Was one of the first to observe the relationship that
people have with objects as signs or things which
could be decoded to convey messages beyond their
practical value.
● He popularized the field of Semiology (the study of
objects as signs.) He believed that what people
increasingly produce are not material objects, but
signs
● According to him sign has two elements: signifier
which refers to its physical form and signified, the
mental concepts it refers to
Tuan (1998) argues, “Our Fragile sense of self needs support, and
this we get by having and possessing things because, to a large
degree, we are what we have and possess”. This premise regarded
possessions is a part of self of a person that is not a new concept. This
is concluded by William James who laid the foundations for modern
conceptions of help, he said that “a man’s self is the sum total of all
the he can call his, not only his body and his psychic powers, but this
clothes and his house, his wife and children, his ancestors and
friends, his reputation and works, his lands and yacht and bank
account.
The Theory of the meaning of material possession suggests
that material goods can fulfill a range of instrumental, social,
symbolic and affective functions.
1. Instrumental function – relate to the functional properties of a
product.
2. Social Symbolic – function signifies personal qualities, social
standing, group affiliation and gender role
3. Categorical functions – refers to the extent to which material
possessions may be used to communicate group membership or
status
4. Self-expression function – reflect a person’s unique qualities,
values, or attitudes.
Materials as process of Self-Extension
Ways of incorporating Maintaining
possessions into the multiple levels
extended self of self
Contamination
1, Ways of incorporating possessions into the
extended self
● Satre suggest that there are three primary ways through
which a person learns to regard an object as part of self:
○ First way is Appropriating or controlling an object for personal
use
○ Second way of having an object and incorporating it into self
by creating it; this view echoes anthropological findings and
Locke”s (1690) political philosophy.
○ Third way in which objects become a part of self is by knowing
them
2. Contamination
● Goffman (1971) suggests six models of interpersonal
contamination.
○ Violation of one’s personal space
○ Touching and bodily contact
○ Noise Pollution
○ Talking to/addressing one
○ Bodily excreta
○ Corporal excreta
3. Maintaining Multiple Levels of Self
● Boorstin (1973) suggests, one of the keyways of expressing
and defining group membership is through shared
consumption symbols.
● Symbols help identify group membership and define the
group self
- Understanding the Self -
02
The Role of Consumer Culture on
the Sense of Self and Identity
The role of Consumer Culture on
the sense of self and identity
People are likely to purchase products that can relate to
their personality. Material possessions signify some
aspects of one’s sense of self and identity.
The decisions that go into the purchase of items and
certain services is dependent in a number of factors,
including financial constraints, availability of items and
services, and the influence of family and friends.
The role of Consumer Culture on
the sense of self and identity
Consumerism is the preoccupation with an inclination
towards the buying of consumer goods.
By viewing the underlying theory of one’s possession, it is
necessary to foresee the Sans possession’ view of self in
consumer behavior literature by two visibly different
discourses: personal and consumer’s identity.
Personal Identity Consumer’s Identity
● self is seen as ● deemed to reside in a
multi-faceted, multi- personal narrative –
layered, social, and the story consumers
psychological being, constantly construct
reflecting, deeply and and play out in their
continually, on itself minds about who they
are and/or striving to
become
● Not all products a person becomes possessions. Some are
clearly consumables, not possessions
● If a person had to invest a lot of resources (money, time,
energy) finding and selecting a product then to
psychologically justify that kind of investment, people tend to
view that products as part of their extended self
● Products thus can relate to one’s self in two ways: (a) by
being instrumental to enhancing their self sans possessions
and (b) by becoming a valued possession.
● Not all product categories have a place in a person’s sense of
self.
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