The readings on self-understanding provide valuable insights that allow for better clarifying the components and factors that shape the self. For example, the concept of the enterprise culture implies that the successful existence of social and political areas is achieved through the efforts of organizations, businesses, and people. However, it is largely perceived that bureaucracy and centralized planning serve as the key factors, which is erroneous, as stated by Hayek and Friedman (Rose, 1996). In other words, the enterprising activities, where the mentioned actors try to acquire personal benefits by creating new projects, lead to the common well-being. The issue that is problematized in this connection is the way organizations are governed and how they should manage themselves. It is considered that the enterprise has the active and calculating selves, where the former is a governing side, and the latter is responsible for acting and improving itself.
The discussion of a therapeutic culture of self is another perspective that is linked to political transformations. Namely, Rose (1996) assumes that the rise of capitalism over individualism promoted the increased need for the therapy, which is associated with self-sufficiency tendencies. The reduced roles of family and religion lead to the obsession with therapy as a set of new techniques to balance their selves and the inner world. Rose (1996) also states that self-help becomes one of the central concepts that explain the personal existence and regulation of an individual. Although it was considered that the political and social regulation matter, it becomes evident that self-help is a combination of professional help and the effort of a person seeking to ensure a better quality of life and meet social norms. The role of a psychologist is to provide the answers to the questions of clients, who try to understand and archive success, normality, and concealment (Cushman, 1990). Accordingly, the presuppositions of the self should be taken into account as the expertise of subjectivity while providing the therapy.
Further discussions of the human nature show that scholars are likely to view the self as a form that is impacted by a set of social, religious, political, and economic relations. In addition, the self is shaped under the impact of the enduring importance of these relations, as well as the practical conduct of a person (Rose, 1996). The latter compose the subjectivity, and Cushman (1990) claims that the life-style solution depends on the ability of a psychotherapist to offer corrective emotional experience, which is linked to the self. Cushman (1990) pays particular attention to the historical changes of the self. For example, it was sexually- restricted in the Victorian era, but become empty and filled with food and celebrities in today’s reality. The way of economy, namely, great production and excessive consumption promotion, significantly impacted the emergence of the contemporary empty self.
The fact that the modern self is shaped in a disquieting manner is identified as disappointing. Even though the modern self is informed by ethics, it still struggles to conduct appropriately, avoiding and preventing conflicts and misunderstanding. In this case, psychotherapy can serve as a strong power to apply and address the current challenges (Cushman, 1990). It is assumed that there is a need to rethink the system, focusing on the impact of social, economic, and political factors on the self to adjust the ways to help clients in seeking a higher life quality.
References
Cushman, P. (1990). Why the self is empty: Toward a historically situated psychology. American Psychologist, 45(5), 599-611.
Rose, N. (1996). Governing enterprising individuals. In Inventing our selves: Psychology, power and personhood (pp. 150-168). Cambridge University Press.