Extending Self-Esteem Theory and Research: The Self as a Social Force
Extending Self-Esteem Theory and Research: The Self as a Social Force
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扩展自尊理论和研究：自我作为一种社会力量
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发表时间：
2001
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影响因子：
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通讯作者：
V. Gecas
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
V. Gecas
我们在研究自我时，大多数注意力都集中在自我概念上，它是社会力量和影响的产物。这是可以理解的，因为自我和自我概念是社会环境的产物。人不是与生俱来的。相反，自我是从社会和象征性的互动中产生的。重要的是要了解自我及其各个组成部分的发展所涉及的社会过程和因素。事实上，莫里斯·罗森伯格（Morris Rosenberg）一直是这一焦点的主要贡献者，他大大增加了我们对自我概念形成原则的理解，并揭示了它们在各种社会背景下的运作。然而，罗森伯格也敦促我们超越对自我概念的前因的主要关注，更多地考虑自我作为其环境中的社会力量。他观察到，“过去忽视（将自我视为一种社会力量）的一个原因.是社会结构和人格的学生压倒性地关注社会对人格的影响，而忽视了人格对社会的影响”（Rosenberg，1981，第623页）。这种忽视也是社会学（以及大部分社会心理学）中相关倾向的一个功能，即在社会情境、社会制度或更遥远的社会结构和文化体系中寻找个体经验和行为的外部原因。我们不太可能将自我视为能动性和动机的来源，影响其环境并促进其自身的发展。
Most of our attention in studying the self has been on the self-concept as a product of social forces and influences. This is understandable since the self and self-concept are products of the social environment. People are not born with selves. Rather, selves emerge out of social and symbolic interaction. And it is important to understand the social processes and factors involved in the development of the self and its various components. In fact, Morris Rosenberg has been a major contributor to this focus, adding substantially to our understanding of the principles of self-concept formation and revealing their operation within various social contexts. Yet Rosenberg also urged us to go beyond our predominant concern with the antecedents of self-concept, toward greater consideration of the self as a social force in its environment. He observed that “one reason for past neglect (of viewing the self as a social force) … is that students of social structure and personality have focused overwhelmingly on the impact of society on personality and neglected the impact of personality on society” (Rosenberg, 1981, p. 623). This neglect is also a function of the related tendency within sociology (and much of social psychology) to look for external causes of individual experience and behavior – in the social situation, social institutions, or more distant social structures and cultural systems. We are much less likely to look to the self as a source of agency and motivation, affecting its environment as well as contributing to its own development.