The overall aim of this article is to provide a critical feminist perspective of culture and self. Five main points of view are presented. First, cultural feminists’ essentialist claims of ‘gendered’ experience for all women are critiqued. Second, a deconstructive reading of essentialist self from postmodern feminist perspective is discussed. Third, the ongoing critique of western autonomous self is critically reviewed. Fourth, a further deconstructive reading of dualist thinking in cultural literature is suggested. Finally, a critical feminist perspective and its implications to feminist research and clinic work are provided.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Boyd, J.A. (1990) ‘Ethnic and Cultural Diversity: Keys to Power’, in L.S. Brown and M.P.P. Root (eds) Diversity and Complexity in Feminist Therapy, pp. 151–167. New York: Harrington Park Press .
2.
Brabeck, M.M (1989) Who Cares? Theory, Research and Educational Implications of the Ethic of Care. New York: Praeger Publishers .
3.
Brabeck, M.M. (1996) The moral self, values, and circles of belongings, in K.F. Wyche and F.J. Crosby (eds) Women’s Ethnicities: Journeys through Psychology, pp. 145–165. Boulder, CO: Westview Press .
4.
Brabeck, M.M., and Larned, A.G. (1997) ‘What do we Know about Women’s Way of Knowing’, in M.R. Walsh (ed.), Women, Men and Gender: On-going Debates, pp. 261–269. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press .
5.
Bruner, J.S. (1990) Acts of Meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
6.
Chang, K.A. (1996) ‘Culture, Power and the Social Construction of Morality: Moral Voices of Chinese Students’ , Journal of Moral Education, 25: 141–157 .
7.
Chodorow, N. (1978) The Reproduction of Mothering: Pyschoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press .
8.
Coll, C.G., Cook-Nobles, R., and Surrey, J.L. (1995) ‘Diversity at the Core: Implications for Relational Theory’, Working in Progress No. 75. Wellesley, MA: Stone Center .
9.
Collins, P.H. (1990) Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. New York, NY: Routledge .
10.
Crawford, M. and Unger, R. (2000) Women and Gender: A Feminist Psychology (3rd edition). New York: McGraw-Hill .
11.
Culler, J. (1982) On Desconstruction: Theory and Criticism after Structuralism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press .
12.
Derrida, J. (1982) Margins of Philosophy (trans. A. Bass). Chicago: University of Chicago Press .
13.
DeVos, G.E. and Suarez-Orozco, M. (1990) ‘Ethnic Belonging and Status Mobility’, in G.E. DeVos and M. Suarez-Orozco (eds), Status Inequality: The Self in Culture, pp. 246–264. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications .
14.
DeVos, G., Marsella, A.J. and Hsu, G.L.K. (1985) ‘Introduction: Approaches to Culture and Self’, in A.J. Marsella, G. DeVos and F.L.K. Hsu (eds), Culture and Self: Asian and Western perspectives. New York: Tavistock Publications .
15.
Dewey, J. (1926) Experience and Nature. Lasalle, IL: Open Court Publishers .
16.
Dio, T. (1973) Anatomy of dependence (trans. J. Bester). Tokyo: Kodansha International .
17.
Gergen, K.J. (1985) ‘The Social Constructivist Movement in Modern Psychology’ . American Psychologist40(3): 266–275 .
18.
Gergen K.J. and Gergen, M.M. (1983) ‘Narratives of the Self’, in T.R. Sarbin and K. Scheibe (eds) Studies in Social Identity, pp.254–273. New York: Praeger .
19.
Gergen, M.M. (2001) Feminist Reconstructions in Psychology: Narrative, Gender, and Performance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage .
20.
Gilligan, C. (1982) In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
21.
Gilligan, C. (1987) ‘Moral Orientation and Moral Development’, in E.F. Kittaty and D.T. Meyers (ed.) Women and Moral Theory, pp.19–33. New York, Rowman and Littlefield .
22.
Griscom, J.L. (1992) ‘Women and Power: Definition, Dualism, and Difference . Psychology of Women Quarterly, 16: 389–414 .
23.
Harding, S. (1986) The Science Question in Feminism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press .
24.
Harding, S. (1990) ‘Feminism, Science, and the Anti-Enlightment Critiques’, in L.J. Nicholson (ed.) Feminism/Postmodernism, pp.83–106. New York: Routledge .
25.
Hare-Mustin, R.T. and Marecek, J. (1988) ‘The Meaning of Gender Difference: Gender Theory, Postmodernism and Psychology’ , American Psychologist43: 455–464 .
26.
Hare-Mustin, R.T. and Marecek, J. (1990) Making a Difference: Psychology and the Construction of Gender. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press .
27.
Harriford, D. (1991) ‘The Occlusion of Class in and by Black Feminist Thought’, unpublished manuscript, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York.
28.
Heidegger, M. (1962) Being and Time (trans. John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson). New York: Harper .
29.
Ho, D.F. (1993) ‘Relational Orientation in Asian Social Psychology’, in U. Kim and J.W. Berry (eds) Indigenous psychology: Research and experience in cultural context, pp. 240–259. Newbury Park, CA: Sage .
30.
Holland, D.C., and Eisenhart, M.A. (1990) Educated in Romance: Women, Achievement, and College Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press .
31.
hooks, b. (1984) Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Boston, MA: South End Press .
32.
hooks, b. (1989) Talking Black: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black. Boston, MA: South End Press
33.
hooks, b. (1990) Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics. Boston, MA: South End Press .
34.
Howell, S. (1981) ‘Rules not Words’, in P. Heelas and A. Lock (eds), Indigenous Psychologies, pp.133–142. London: Academic Press .
35.
Hsu, F.L.K. (1985) ‘The Self in Cross-cultural Perspective’, in A.J. Marsella, G. DeVos, and F.L.K. Hsu (eds) Culture and Self: Asian and Western Perspectives, pp. 24–55. London: Tavistock .
36.
James, W. (1991[1890]) The Principle of Psychology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
37.
James, W. (1963[1896]) Psychology. Greenwich, CT: Fawcett .
38.
Jenkins, Y.M. (1999) Diversity in College Settings: Directives for Helping Professionals. New York and London: Routledge .
39.
Johnson, F. (1985) ‘The Western Concept of Self’, in A. Marsella, G. DeVos, and F.L.K. Hsu (eds) Culture and Self: Asian and Western Perspectives. London: Tavistock .
40.
Jordan, J.V., (1997) Women’s Growth in Diversity: More Writings from the Stone Center. New York: Guilford Press .
41.
Jordan, J.V., Kaplan, A.G., Miller J.B., Stiver I.P., and Surrey, J.L. (eds) (1991) Women’s Growth in Connection: Writings from the Stone Center. New York: Guilford Press .
42.
Kagitcibasi, C. (1989) ‘A Question of Belonging’, in M.M. Tokarczyk and E.A. Fay (eds) Working-class Women in the Academy: Laborers in the Knowledge Factory, pp. 87–96. Amherst, NY: University of Massachusetts Press .
43.
Kaplan A. and Klein, R. (1985) ‘The Relational Self in Late Adolescent Women’, Work in Progress No. 17. Wellesley, MA: Stone Center .
44.
Kim, U. and Berry, J.W. (1993) Indigenous Psychologies: Research and Experience in Cultural Context. Newbury Park, CA: Sage .
45.
Kirkpatrick, J. and White, G.M. (1985) ‘Exploring Ethnopsychologies’, in Person, Self, and Experience: Exploring Pacific Ethnopsychologies, pp. 3–32. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press .
46.
Kitiyama, S., and Markus, H.R. (1995) ‘Culture and Self: Implications for Internationalizing Psychology’, in N.R. Goldberger and J. Veroff (eds) The Culture and Psychology Reader, pp. 366–383. New York: New York University Press .
47.
Klein, R.D. (1983) ‘How To Do What We Want To Do: Thoughts about Feminist Methodology’, in G. Bowles and R.D. Klein (eds) Theories of Women Studies, pp. 88–104. Boston, MA: Routledge & Kegan Paul .
48.
Leavitt, J.W. ed. (1984) Women and Health in America: Historical Readings. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press .
49.
Leonard, V.W. (1989) ‘A Heideggerian Phenomenological Perspective on the Concept of the Person’ , Advanced Nurse Science11(4): 40–55 .
50.
Lorde, A. (1984) Sister Outsider. Trumansburg, NY: Crossing Press .
51.
Luttrel, W. (1989) ‘Working-class Women’s Ways of Knowing: Effects of Gender, Race, and Class’ , Sociology of Education62: 33–46 .
52.
Luttrel, W. (1993) ‘‘‘The teachers, they all had their pets”: Concepts of Gender, Knowledge, and Power’ , Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society18(3): 505–546 .
53.
Lykes, M.B. (1985) ‘Gender and Individualistic vs. Collective Bases of Social Individuality’ , Journal of Personality Psychology53: 357–383 .
54.
Lykes, M.B. (1989) The Caring Self: Social Experiences of Power and Powerlessness’, in M. Brabeck (ed.), Who Cares: Theory, Research, and Educational Implications of the Ethic of Care. New York: Praeger .
55.
Lykes, M.B. (1994) ‘Whose Meeting at Which Crossroads? A Response to Brown and Gilligan’ , Feminism & Psychology4(3): 345–359 .
56.
Lykes, M.B. and Qin, D. (2001) ‘Collectivism and Individualism’, in Judy Worell (ed.), Encyclopedia of Women and Gender, Vol. 1, pp.625–631. San Diego, CA: Academic Press .
57.
Markus, H.R. and Kitayama, S. (1991) ‘Culture and the Self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion, and Motivation’ , Psychological Review96(2): 224–235 .
58.
Markus, H. and Wurf, E. (1987) ‘The Dynamic Self-concept: A Social Psychological Perspective’ , Annual Review of Psychology38: 299–337 .
59.
Marsella, A.J. (1985) ‘Culture, Self, and Mental Disorder’, in A.J. Marsella, G.DeVos, and F.L.K. Hsu (eds) Culture and Self: Asian and Western Perspectives, pp. 281–308. New York: Tavistock Publications .
60.
May, R. (1983) The Discovery of Being: Writings in Existential Psychology. New York: London .
61.
Mead, G.H. (1934) Mind, Self and Society, ed. Charles W. Norris. Chicago: University of Chicago Press .
62.
Miller, J.B. (1973) Psychoanalysis and Women. New York: Penguin Books .
63.
Miller, J.B. (1976) Towards a New Psychology of Women. Boston, MA: Beacon Press .
64.
Miller, J.B. (1991) The Development of Women’s Sense of Self’, in J.V. Jordan, A.G. Kaplan, J.B. Miller, I.P.Stiver and J.L. Surrey (eds) Women’s Growth in Connection. New York: The Guilford Press .
65.
Miller, J.B. (2001) ‘How Change Happens’, Women Learning from Women , symposium conducted by Harvard Medical School and The Stone Center, Boston, April.
66.
Ostrove, J.M. and Stewart, A.J. (1994) ‘Meaning and Uses of Marginal Identities: Social Class at Radcliffe in the 1960s’, in C.E. Franz and A.J. Stewart (eds) Women Creating Lives: Identities, Resilience, and Resistance. Boulder, CO: Westview Press .
67.
Oyserman, D. and Markus, H.R. (1993) ‘The Sociocultural Self’’, in J. Suls (ed.) Psychological Perspectives on the Self, Vol. 4, pp. 187–220. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum .
68.
Peirce, C.S. (1958[1878]) Selected Writings, ed. P. Weiner. Chicago: University of Chicago Press .
69.
Penuel, W.R. and Wertsch, J.V. (1995) ‘Vygotsky and Identity Formation: A Sociocultural Approach’ , Educational Psychologist30(2): 83–92 .
70.
Qin, D. (2000) ‘Reweaving Self: Changes in Self-understanding among Chinese Women Graduate Students in the United States’, unpublished dissertation, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachussetts.
71.
Ramazanoglu, C. (1989) Feminism and the Contradiction of Oppression. London: Routledge .
72.
Rogoff, B. (1990) Apprenticeship in Thinking: Cognitive Development in Social Context. New York: Oxford University Press .
73.
Rogoff, B., Radziszewska, B., and Masiello, T. (1995) ‘Analysis of Developmental Processes in Sociocultural Activity’, in L. Martin, D. Nelson, and E. Toback (eds) Sociocultural Psychology: Theory and Practice of Doing and Knowing, pp. 125–149. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
74.
Rosaldo, R. (1989) Culture and Truth: The Remaking of Social Analysis. Boston, MA: Beacon Press .
75.
Sampson, E.E. (1988) ‘The Debates on Individualism: Indigenous Psychology of the Self and its Role in Personal and Societal Function . American Psychologist43: 15–22 .
76.
Sampson, E.E. (1993) Celebrating the Other: A Dialogic Account of Human Nature. Boulder CO: Westview Press .
77.
Shweder, R.A. (1990) ‘Cultural Psychology: What is it?’ in H.W. Stigler, R.A. Shweder, and G. Herdt (eds) Cultural Psychology: Essays on Comparative Human Development, pp. 1–46. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
78.
Shweder, R. (1991) Thinking through Cultures: Expeditions in Cultural Psychology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
79.
Shweder, R.A., and Bourne, E.J. (1984) ‘Does the Concept of the Person Vary Crossculturally?’ in R.A. Shweder, and R.A. Levine (eds) Culture Theory: Essays on Mind, Self, and Emotion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
80.
Smith, J. (1981) ‘Self and Experience in Maori Culture, in P. Heelas and A. Lock (eds) Indigenous Psychologies: An Anthropology of the Self, pp. 79–103. London: Academic Press .
81.
Spelman, E.V. (1988) Inessential Woman: Problems of Exclusion in Feminist Thought. Boston, MA: Beacon Press .
82.
Stewart, A.J. and Ostrove, J.M. (1993) ‘Social Class, Social Change, and Gender: Working-class Women at Radcliffe and After’ , Psychology of Women Quarterly, 17: 475–497 .
83.
Tu, W.M. (1985) Confucian Thought: Selfhood as Creative Transformation. New York: State University of New York Press .
84.
Turner, C.W. (1987) ‘Clinical Application of the Stone Center Theoretical Approach to Minority Women’, Work in Progress No.28. Wellesley, MA: Stone Center .
85.
Turner, J. (1982) The Structure of Sociological Theory. Homewood, IL: The Dorsey Press .
86.
Unger, R. (1988) ‘Psychological, Feminist, and Personal Epistemology: Transcending Contradiction, in M.M. Gergen (ed.), Feminist Thought and the Structure of Knowledge, pp. 124–141. New York: New York University Press .
87.
Unger, R. (1989) Representations: Social Construction of Gender. Amityville, NY: Baywood .
88.
Unger, R.K. (1990) ‘Imperfect Reflections of Reality: Psychology Constructs Gender, in R.T. Hare-Mustin and J. Maracek (eds) Making a Difference: Psychology and the Construction of Gender, pp. 102–149. New Haven, CT: Yale University .
89.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, ed. M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner and E. Souberman. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
90.
Walker, M. (2001) ‘How Therapy Helps when the Culture Hurts’, Women Learning from Women , symposium conducted by Harvard Medical School and The Stone Center, Boston, April.
91.
Wilkinson, S (2001) ‘Theoretical Perspective on Women and Gender’, in Rhoda K. Unger (ed.), Handbook of the Psychology of Women and Gender, pp. 17–28. New York: Wiley .
92.
Wilkinson, S; Condor, S.; Griffin, C.; Wetherell, M.; and Williams, J. (1991) ‘Feminism and Psychology: From Critique to Reconstruction’ , Feminism & Psychology1: 5–18 .
