origins of "x self" construals

ENGCLEWT@ACS.EKU.EDU
Sat, 28 Mar 1998 13:29:37 -0500 (EST)

To my knowledge, William James was the first to speak of
"the material self," "the social self," "possible selves," "the
spiritual self," etc. This kind of segmented self construal has become
a standard and ever-increasing way of talking in a variety of areas
within psychology and adjacent fields (cf. Neisser and many others).
I would be interested in any thoughts people would like to share
on (1) the history of this kind of usage, (2) its value, (3) possible
alternatives.

(Just to make one remark as a possible conversation opener,
such usages often do not refer to anything that could reasonably/easily
be called a "self," as far as I can see--e.g., a recent piece of
sociological theory that spoke of "the leisure self.")

Any comments?

Best wishes to all,

Rick Clewett
(Engclewt@acs.eku.edu)

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