MODULE NO.

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CHAPTER II: UNPACKING THE SELF
THE MATERIAL/ECONOMIC SELF
Many people work to earn money not just to buy basic necessities like food, clothes, shelter and the
like. People also spend money to buy material things that will bring them comfort, convenience and pleasure.
Some people buy things to earn admiration, praise and recognition from other people while some buy things
too represent their status in life. Many people perceive material things as the extension of their identities. The
attachment of human beings to material things is influenced by many factors in the environment and in the
present times, is greatly influenced by the media. Some people think that acquiring material things is the key in
improving their identity. They assume that their participation in the consumption of goods and services
represent their material self as their participation furnishes them a status and role in society.

I SHOP, THEREFORE I AM

Identities can be reflected on the possessions that people have. Some

research are identified and drawn upon developing this concept, which the concept
is from consumer behavior. To be able to identify this consumer behavior, people
need to gain some understanding of the meanings that consumer attach to
possessions. People should first recognize that possessions, intentionally or
unintentionally, regard these as parts of themselves.

As 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 are 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 “ a man’s
self is the sum total of all that he can call his, not only his body and psychic powers, but his clothes and his
house, his wife and children, his ancestors and friends, his reputation and works, his lands, and yacht and
bank account. All these things give him the same emotions. If they wax and prosper, he feels triumphant; if
they dwindle and die away, he feels cast down, - not necessarily in the same degree for each thing, but in
much the same way for all.” If people define possessions as things, they call theirs, James was saying that
people are the sum of their possessions.

Two subclasses of the Material Self:

a) The Bodily Self. The components of this is composed of the intimate parts of the person, it includes our
body’s aspects such as physical (arms head, legs etc), emotional (feelings, desires etc), psychological
(intelligence, cognition etc) and moral (values, beliefs etc).

b) The Extracorporeal Self. Also known as the extended self. It includes the people of great significance to
us (family), possessions (house, car, clothes), places that matter to us, products of our labor (job,
handworks etc).

Moreover the material self is constituted by our bodies, clothes, immediate family and home. It is to these
things, according to James, that we are most deeply affected because of our investments of self within these
things. The more we invest of ourselves in these objects, the more attached we inevitably we are to them.

The innermost part of our material self is our body. Intentionally we are investing in our body. We are
directly attached to this commodity that we cannot live without. We strive to make sure that the body functions
well and good. That is why we buy food to nourish and sustain it, vitamins to supplement its performance,
cosmetics that will enhance etc. We do have preferential attachment or intimate closeness to certain body
parts because of its value to us. Hence, there are certain people who get parts of their body insured like
renowned football athletes David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo who both had their legs insured for $70M
and $144M respectively and Jennifer Lopez who insured her butt amounting to $300M.

Next to our body are the clothes that we use. Influence by the “Philosophy of Dress” by Herman Lotze,
James believed that clothing is an essential part of the material self. Lotze in his book Microcosmus, stipulated
that “anytime we bring an object into the surface of our body, we invest in that object into the consciousness of
our personal existence taking in its contours our own and making it part of the self” The fabric and style of the
clothes we wear bring sensations to the body, to which we are directly affected through our attitudes and
behaviors.

Our immediate family which include our parents and siblings hold another great importance to the self.
What they do or become affects us. When an immediate family member dies, a part of our self-dies too. When
their lives are in success, we feel their victories as is it was our own. In their failures, we are also put to shame
or guilt. When they are in disadvantaged situation, there is an urge within us to help like a voluntary instinct of
saving one’s self from danger. We see our family as the nearest replica of our self.

Next is our home. As said, home is where the heart is. Our experience inside the home were recorded and
marked on particular parts and things in our home. As the old cliché goes, “if only walls can speak,” thus the
home is an extension of the self because, in it we can directly connect our self.

HOW MUCH DO WE VALUE OR SELF?

Self-worth and self-value are two related terms that are often used interchangeably. Having a sense of
self-worth means that you value yourself, and having a sense of self-value means that you are worthy. The
differences between the two are minimal enough that both terms can be used to describe the same general
concept.

Self-worth is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a feeling that you are a good

person who deserves to be treated with respect”.

On the other hand, self-value is “more behavioral than emotional, more about
how you act toward what you value, including yourself, than how you feel about
yourself compared to others” (Stosny, 2014).

The self-worth theory posits that an individual’s main priority in life is to

find self-acceptance and that self-acceptance is often found through
achievement (Covington & Beery, 1976). In turn, achievement is often found
through competition with others.

Thus, the logical conclusion is that competing with others can help us feel like
we have impressive achievements under our belt, which then makes us feel
proud of ourselves and enhances our acceptance of ourselves.
Our self-worth is determined mostly by our self-evaluated abilities and our
performance in one or more activities that we deem valuable. However, people commonly use other yardsticks
to measure their self-worth.

Here are five of the top factors that people use to measure and compare their own self-worth to the
worth of others:
 Appearance—whether measured by the number on the scale, the size of clothing worn, or the kind of
attention received by others;
 Net worth—this can mean income, material possessions, financial assets, or all of the above;
 Who you know/your social circle—some people judge their own value and the value of others by their
status and what important and influential people they know;
 What you do/your career—we often judge others by what they do; for example, a stockbroker is often
considered more successful and valuable than a janitor or a teacher;
 What you achieve—as noted earlier, we frequently use achievements to determine someone’s worth
(whether it’s our own worth or someone else’s), such as success in business, scores on the SATs, or
placement in a marathon or other athletic challenge (Morin, 2017).

SELF IDENTITY AND CONSUMER CULTURE

Consumer researchers have recognized for a long time that people consume in ways that are consistent
with their sense of self (Levy 1959; Sirgy 1982). Important thought leaders in our field have described and
documented that consumers use possessions and brands to create their self-identities and communicate these
selves to others and to themselves (e.g., Belk 1988; Fournier 1998; McCracken 1989)

One increasingly powerful context in which individuals construct and express their
identities is the material and consumer culture we live in. Having the 'right' material
goods has become vital to many, not so much because of these goods themselves,
but because of hoped-for psychological benefits, such as moving closer to an ideal
identity, creating a desired social image, and achieving positive emotional states.
Having, buying, and desiring material goods has a profound impact on individuals'
identities and their well-being (Dittmar, 2008)

Previous studies have emphasized the significance of self-concept and consumer preference, as
purchases made by consumers were directly influenced by the image individuals had of themselves (Onkivist &
Shaw, 1987). Sirgy (1982) defined self-image congruity (also often referred to as product-image congruity) as
the process of consumers purchasing products/brands that they perceived as possessing symbolic images
similar to the image they hold of themselves. This theory postulated that products and brands have symbolic
meanings and display certain images. Consumers’ choices to purchase, display, and use the products or
brands helped them communicate the symbolic meaning to themselves as well as to others. Thus, the greater
the congruity between human characteristics that exhibit consumers’ senses of self and the characteristics that
depicted a brand, the greater the consumers’ preferences were for the brand (Sung, Choi & Tinkman, 2012).

Purchase can be the consumer’s self-concept or identity. This includes both sans possessions’ self and the
extended self, and is often the object of introspection among most consumers at one time or the other.
Although the concept of ‘I’ can include virtually everything a person ever come to own and live with, a
systematic list would include six components a. their bodies, b. their values and character, c. their successes
and competence, d. their social roles, e. their traits’ and finally, f. their 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 product as part of their extended self.
For this reason, more expensive purchases, and purchases for which they have saved for a long time are more
likely to become part of the 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. As to the second role, product possessions become
part of self by six mechanisms described above: by self-based choice, by investment in acquisition, by
investment in use, by bonding during use, as collections, and as memory markers.