Object Relations, Role Models, and Cultivation of the Self

Psychoanalytic object relations theory and symbolic interactionism both emphasize the mediating role of representations in the socialization process, yet the relationship between the external environment and the constitution of these representations is quite different in the two approaches. The inherent subjectivism of the Freudian tradition is criticized through an examination of the role of personal possessions in the objectification of the self. Valued material possessions, it is argued, act as signs of the self that are essential in theirown right for its continued cultivation, and hence the world of meaning that we create for ourselves, and that creates our selves, extends literally into the objective surroundings.