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Soc 1 Lecture 1Winter 20091Thursday, January 8, 2009“The Institutional Construction of the Self” A. Announcements:http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/mohr/classes/soc1/ Readings available tomorrow PM for next weekFirst writing assignment due next Wed at 6:00 PMAdds/Drops through GOLDMy Section (negotiating, donʼt drop other section yet)2Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self B. Individual Centered vs. Institutional Centered Approaches. 1. Each a heuristic tool. Orders and makes sense of complexity. (Innately human).2. Easier to get Individual Centered because it is the dominant ideology and cultural logic of our culture. 3Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self 3. Institutional Perspective fundamental for sociology as a project.4. In the end —"both (dual) —"but need to understand each before you can understand both. 4Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self C. If the self varies —"what varies? • Basic commonalities (universals)• pain, pleasure, immediacy of attention• life/death, self-preservation• cognitive structure 5Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self C. If the self varies —"what varies? • Ideas vary• (but) Ideas are linked w/ the physical• Ideas of our selves (as selves)• Charles Taylor,1989 Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity.• sense of ourselves as beings w/ inner depths, that we are ʻselvesʼ6Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self C. If the self varies —"what varies? • Useful as a way in to sociology• What makes social science different than natural sciences:Human existence is fundamentally conditioned by our understanding of our existence7Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self D. Marcel Mauss. 1938. “A Category of the Human Mind: The Notion of Person; the Notion of Self.”• French Anthropologist (student/nephew) of Emile Durkheim• Looks at differing concept of the person (or the self (moi)) 8Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self D. Marcel Mauss.• “Individuation” always exists“In no way do I maintain that there has ever been a tribe, a language, in which the term “I”, “me” has never existed, or that it has not expressed something clearly represented...there has never existed a human being who has not been aware, not only of his body...his individuality, both spiritual & physical.” 9Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self D. Marcel Mauss.• Zuni (Pueblo Indians)• Limited # forenames / clan• An exact role each on the “cast-list” of the clan, expressed by that name• each name assd. w/ animal totem• right leg of animal, or left foot• each has moral, hierarchical value• never greet as brother, always “elder brother” (etc.) reflect ranking10Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self D. Marcel Mauss.• Clan = certain # persons• Each is to act out the prefigured totality of the clan• Each acts out not just individuals responsibility, but cosmological meaning of the clan, the totem, etc.• The “person” totally absorbed into identity vis-a-vis clan11Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self D. Marcel Mauss.• What is at stake — very existence of the clan, the animal totem, all all ancestors reincarnated in rightful successors (same forename)• Role takes precedence over the self 12Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self D. Marcel Mauss.• Romans — The person as citizen• the person more than organizational fact, or a right to assume a role• Instead, a basic fact of law “personae” 13Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self D. Marcel Mauss.• Romans — Earlier organized as clans w/ totems (Romulus/Remus)• A revolution by plebs was decisive• All freeman of Rome were citizens (not slaves)• equal rights before laws• New logic of naming emerges• Relation to ancestors changes, as reflecting images and ideals14Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self D. Marcel Mauss.• Christians (personne)• from persona (“a man clad in a condition”) to personne (the human “person”)• Moral complexity of achievement organized around complex dualism of selfhood 15Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self D. Marcel Mauss.• Dualism of Self Soul/Body Sin/Grace Life/Death• An internal Calculus of Action Free Will Predestination Body as Eternal16Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self D. Marcel Mauss.• From the Person to the Self (Psychological Being)• Enlightenment Philosophies broke from giveness of the soul, to the free calculus of the cognitive, calculating individual. Mind/body dualism• Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789)17Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self D. Max Weber. “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” 1. The Revolution of Martin Luther (1517)• “The Calling” • Against the Religious Elite (Catholics)• Personal Relationship w/ God18Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self D. Max Weber. “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” 2. John Calvin (Geneva, 1540ʼs)• Against “Moral Bank Account”• Predestination (creates anxiety)• The “Chosen”• A “Godly Life”19Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self D. Max Weber. “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” 3. Traditional vs. Rational Capitalism• Puritan Ethic (honesty, deny pleasures of the flesh, long, hard work)• Benjamin Franklin • “A penny Saved if a Penny earned”• “Waste not want not”• “Time is Money”20Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional Construction of the Self E. Tenets of the Individual-Centered Approach.1. $ The individual is logically prior to society.2.$ The individual is a rational, calculating person, who knows his or her needs (desires, wishes) and acts in such a way as to rationally maximize the fulfillment of those desires.21Thursday, January 8, 2009The Institutional


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