Written Summary & Analysis

Summary and Analysis

The article “Beyond Institutional and Impulsive Conceptions of Self: Family Structure

and the Socially Anchored Real Self”, written by Steve Derne in 1991, shocked the western

world and won the 1991 Stirling Award because it illuminated what anchors our real self. The

article was intended for anthropologists. The goal of Steve Derne is to criticize that the

dichotomy between institutional and impulsive self-conceptions is based on Western male

experience, and he suggests that social pressure and family structure also play an important role

in shaping self-conceptions.

Derne begins the article by citing Ralph Turner, who argues that people recognize their

real selves either by acting out institutional roles or by experiencing inner impulses. However, by

conducting 49 interviews with North Indian, Hindu men, and analyzing these data, Derne finds

that their authentic selves do not fit in those two categories. He firstly claims that family honor is

external force that drives action. People who follow traditional rules, like living in joint families,

preferring arranged marriages, and restricting the movements of women outside the home, are

not driven by their institutional roles, but rather driven by external pressures produced by others'

judgmental eyes. In addition, the author describes examples in which men go against their inner

desires to act according to social pressures and protect their honor, which proves that the Indian

men do not align their self-conception with internal impulses.

According to Derne, the Indian men are willing to be guided by social pressures for two

reasons. First, if there is no social pressure in their society, they will act destructively. It will be

hard to control antisocial impulses and bad personal behaviors. The social pressures also

establish social hierarchy and direct people into appropriate actions. Second, the Indian men

want to be guided by the elderly and social pressures, because otherwise, it is difficult for them

to see further directions, and they will undergo an extreme sense of uneasiness.

It is inessential for Indian men’s selves to achieve continuity between inner beliefs and

outer actions. According to Derne's interviews, most Hindu men report that they are not upset

when their inner desire and external demand conflict, and they choose to bow to social pressures.

However, if they do not obey the external requirements, they will feel discomfort and try to

compensate. Thus, Hindu men's conception of self is firmly rooted in social pressure, and Derne

calls this kind of self—— “socially anchored self”. The cause of this state of mind is Hindu

men's family life. Joint family living asks Indians to take orders starting at childhood. Also, their

personalities are shaped by prolonged maternal closeness and interaction with many adults,

which grooms them to focus on meeting the needs of others.

The article compares the similar self-conceptions and childhood experiences of Hindu

men and American women, then states the importance of the family experience in shaping the

socially anchored self. Although the author only uses American women as an example, I think, in

fact, he can hint at an idea that all cultures shape different kinds of family structures and these

family structures further shape different types of socially anchored selves. These shaped selves

are developed in order to move towards the desire of their societies. Thus, how the family unit

functions also has relevance to the politics of the society.

This article is a bridge between the discussion about kinship and the discussion of

politics. Family is the first interaction a child has with the world. The practice of positive and

negative sanctions in the family orient the child to the societal norms. Like the external controls,

politics also cultivate the internal/culture controls in the family unit.

The article demonstrates how family structures and interactions can shape self-

conceptions. It holds importance in the field of anthropology. On the one hand, it gives another

explanation of what anchors our real self, other than institution and impulse. This makes us

conscious that the dichotomies defined by the western world are not applicable to the entire

world. Anthropologists should explore more possibilities and explanations. Also, the article

examines the cultural group in the global south while the institution-and-impulse concept is built

upon the research of the global north, so it calls anthropologists to pay attention to the cultures of

minorities.

Finally, as the world is changing, some changes, such as the division of labor, changes of

urbanization, and the shift from production to consumption, will have an impact on the family

structure. Thus, for future studies in the field of anthropology, this article lets the sociologists and

anthropologists’ students also pay attention to how these changes in the family structure may

shape self-conceptions.