Charting the emergence of the self as a social representation from early modernity to the 20th century

Foucault (1984/1989: p.293) contends that “the degree of zeal for the self” defines contemporary society. While this book’s contributors have tracked this preoccupation with the psychological self as it has transformed into a vast material culture and intersected with contemporary political culture, this book chapter is interested in the development of the category of the self as a social representation and how the concept of the self, as a means to attaining personal fulfilment and happiness, evolved to “inalienable” and “primordial” ontological status in Western, industrialised society (Durkheim, 1964: p.198; Mauss, 1938: p.87). To this end, this research will present a socio-historical examination, informed by a constructionist approach, charting the processes from early modernity to the 20th century through which the concept of the psychological self was first mooted and ultimately naturalised. This analytical approach will highlight four key stages in the development of the social representation of the self: Resonance, anchoring, objectification, and naturalisation (Gamson, 1988; Moscovici, 1981, 1982).