Psychological anthropology focuses on researching the dialectic between personal and collective identity and is one of intellectually most thrilling research areas in cultural anthropology. The following thesis paper deals with the founding relationship between a person’s self and collective identities. The theoretical part of the paper presents a historical and critical outline of the main discussions regarding the self and collective identity in Western thought. Additionally, key aspects of an individual’s self are chronologically presented, foremost in the light of multicultural researches that have broadened our understanding of this question across the globe. The empirical part analyses in-depth biographical interviews of five chosen individuals, with a focus on an individual’s conception of him- or herself, of the surrounding environment and self-existential power. An individual’s self-reflection, its display and the changing of a speaker’s perception are put into focus. This thesis paper aligns the empirical findings with anthropological insights of the concept of self, via the analysis of different modern motivational products and the way in which individualism is reproduced in the modern consumerist Slovenia.
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