The Importance of Identifying as Female

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"I wouldn't say she was a white woman. I'd say she's a not black woman," he says of Rachel Dolezal. "From our all intents and purposes, again, it gives a social construction of what you are." A trans person who passes as a man but thinks of themselves as a woman exists in some liminal state when they're in communities that don't see them the way they see themselves,. He adds. 'They're not really either one of the things, you know, on the intersontology at that moment'

There is an image, especially in Western cultures, of the rugged, authentic, self-made individual choosing how to navigate the intricacies of the social world. But there is no mystical soul within us, manifesting as the immutable essence of self. What we think of as our "self" is shaped by our environment and our genes, and most of all by our interactions with other people. Psychologist Brian Lowery argues for a strong version of this thesis, positing that our sense of self is largely a social construct. We talk about the implications of this idea, and what it means for shifting notions of personal identity.

Post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/06/12/239-brian-lowery-on-the-social-self/

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Brian Lowery received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California Los Angeles. He is currently Walter Kenneth Kilpatrick Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. His new book is Selfless: The Social Creation of "You."

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