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Week 11, Lesson 8 - The Material Economic Self PDF

The document discusses the concept of the material or economic self. It explains that the material self consists of things a person owns or belongs to, including their body, family, clothes, money, and possessions. William James viewed these material aspects as central to one's self-image and self-concept. Losing possessions or economic status impacted how people saw themselves. The pursuit of acquiring goods and filling homes with objects became a way for families to express their character during a period of increased consumption and home decorating.

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Joseph Nathaniel Marmol
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1K views

Week 11, Lesson 8 - The Material Economic Self PDF

The document discusses the concept of the material or economic self. It explains that the material self consists of things a person owns or belongs to, including their body, family, clothes, money, and possessions. William James viewed these material aspects as central to one's self-image and self-concept. Losing possessions or economic status impacted how people saw themselves. The pursuit of acquiring goods and filling homes with objects became a way for families to express their character during a period of increased consumption and home decorating.

Uploaded by

Joseph Nathaniel Marmol
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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[Understanding the Self / BSIT]

1
[The Material / Economic Self]

Module 11 The Material / Economic Self

At the end of this module, you are expected to:


1. Explore the different aspects of economic self
2. Examine one’s self against the different aspects of self that are discussed
in class.
3. Demonstrate critical, reflective thought in integrating the various aspect
of Economic self

The Material / Economic Self


The material self consists of things that belong to a person or entities that a
person belongs to. Thus, things like the body, family, clothes, money, and
such make up the material self. For James, the core of the material self was
the body. Second to the body, James felt a person's clothes were important to
the material self. He believed a person's clothes were one way they
expressed who they felt they were; or clothes were a way to show status,
thus contributing to forming and maintaining one's self-image. Money and
family are critical parts of the material self. James felt that if one lost a family
member, a part of who they are was lost also. Money figured in one's material
self in a similar way. If once a person had significant money then lost it, who
they were as a person changed as well.

“For the old critics of luxury, the human self was something pure that existed
apart from the material world. For champions of the new outlook,
possessions ceased to be something invasive and corrosive. On the contrary,
material things were an essential part of the human self.”
- Frank Trentmann: The Self

People had a “material self”, in the words of William James, the Harvard
psychologist and giant of the American intellectual scene in the late nineteenth
century. A “man’s Self is the sum total of all that he CAN call his”, James wrote
in 1890. This included his body, family and reputation but also his “clothes and
his house… his lands and horses, and yacht and bank-account.” If they grew, their
owners felt triumphant. If they faded, people felt a part of themselves was dying.

It was this “material self” that also pushed people to acquire homes and fill them
with possessions. William James and his younger brother Henry, the novelist,
wrote during a boom in home decorating and collecting. In The Spoils of Poynton
(1896) Henry followed the intimate (and ultimately destructive) power that
cabinets, chairs and other treasures had over the main character. In real life,

Course Module
furniture and possessions were means for families to cultivate and demonstrate
their character.

In some ways, the embrace of a “material self” in the West was not all that ground
breaking. After all, Shinto and Buddhism envisages a flow between spirit and
objects. Things can take on divine qualities – hence the great commerce in gifts in
Asian countries. Where the West was different was in its glorification of novelty –
the pursuit of new trinkets, gadgets and products. This gave it a much greater
drive and dynamism than, say, China, which in the late Ming period (1590-1644)
also saw a rise in commerce but ultimately prized antiquities over novelty. Taste,
here, remained more exclusive and backward looking.

That the West moved from a fear of being possessed to a cult of possession did
not mean that suddenly “anything goes”.

Example of Material Self


Self is judged on the way you dress, the kind of clothes you wear, the car you
drive and the type of home you prefer or own.

<Figure 1. Philosophy >


[Understanding the Self / BSIT]
3
[The Material / Economic Self]

References and Supplementary Materials

Online Supplementary Reading Materials


1. Frank Trentmann is the author of Empire of Things: How We Became a World of
Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First (UK: Allen Lane/Penguin;
US: HarperCollins, 2016)
2. <Unlimited World>;<https://www.unlimited.world/unlimited/the-material-self>;
<May 10,2018>
3. <Oxford Scholarship
Online>;<http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/978019539
1381.001.0001/acprof-9780195391381-chapter-16>; <May 10,2018>

Course Module

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