Self and Other

[laira314]

How can one define what is Self and what is Other with respect to cultures? I mean, it's not simply a matter of identifying what you do and think the same or differently than some semi-idealized cultural norm. Every culture has variation (or weirdos, depending on how you see it) within itself, and it would be difficult to argue that someone who

Comments

[rdg]

Any ideas or suggestions on how to make this work?

Sure. Drop your a priori assumption that theoretical abstracts like 'Self', 'Other', and 'Close-Distant' are universally applicable paradigms for understanding how people think. Then put down your theory, go down to your local, and meet some real people.

[ryuneko]

This could develop into an interesting conversation.

I would venture to say that most people define themselves without much effort. Hobbies, work, family... basically the activties of their everyday life.

More obscure would be the aloof, patterning themselves after a hero: Literary, Biblical, Political, Sports, etc...

My question would be those trying to define themselves beyond the age of thirty or forty.

Can we assume the definition of a person could be tied to income and position in life? If so, shouldn't defining oneself be complete rather early in life then focus on the acomplishing those goals of that person?

Obviously, the definition of ones self could inhibit or promote the person....

Could it be that by defining ourselves, we place limitations on our being. What if our definition is totaly different fromt heperceptions of others? Definition clash. Incompatability of definitions.

Then again... This could easily be solved over a pint.

[massive interuptus... does this makes sense]

gut identity

[iyara]

OK, the following comments are variations on the theme

Re: gut identity

[laira314]

I agree that identity is a very personal issue. However, I suspect that there are patterns in how people define their identity, and I can't help but wonder what they are. I have all these scattered observation of all these special cases with different circumstances, kind of like the ones you described, and I'd like to understand why you get the special cases that you get. I just want to understand other people on more than a case-by-case basis

[miromi]

i'm confused,what's your point? this sounds like a cheezy freshman college gender socio politics paper. self and other. do normal people still even use that word???? yuck!

but in all seriousness, can you rephrase that without that bad academic garble?

[laira314]

I am trying to find a general way of determining what cultures people feel are their own and which are not.