Social Theories and Modern Understandings of The "Self"

Abstract

Modern sociological viewpoints on the concept of "self" give great importance to social constructionism, authority, and reflexivity. Contemporary Foucaultian research has determined that power is essential for the development of the ego. This corpus of work provides a significant challenge to the dominant sociological viewpoints that have been influenced by symbolic interactionism and Mead. The field of sociology has been enriched by the contributions of various perspectives. Reflexivity, which is fundamental to the Meadian tradition, offers a comprehensive framework for comprehending political activity and agency. This specific component is noticeably lacking in the current and upcoming research projects. The prevailing trend in current empirical research is guided by the concept of social construction, which serves as a cohesive framework to combine modern and classic sociological viewpoints on the self. The inclination is driven by the theory of social construction. Promising future study directions involve examining the social context in which self-construction occurs, investigating the social resources used in this process, and evaluating the growing significance of non-human entities in the field of self-construction. This study also examines the constraints of research that overly prioritizes the psychological impacts of self-construction, as is the situation with this particular examination.

Keywords: identity, power, social creation, and reflexivity