chapter7-自我与社会

辣白菜味辣条

In the chapter "The Self and Society," Jon Witt illuminates the profound idea that "cognition" is not a mirror passively reflecting the world, but a brush actively painting and creating reality. Through the "three-stage model of world construction"—constructing culture, constructing the self, and constructing society—we collectively participate in a grand and ongoing project of social creation.
This process begins with our inescapable "construction of culture." From birth, we are immersed in a web of language, symbols, and shared meanings, which we internalize as the foundational framework for understanding everything. Subsequently, we use these internalized cultural resources to "construct the self." Through interaction with others, we learn to play roles and form a "looking-glass self," gradually establishing a unique identity. Finally, this culturally shaped "self" engages in "constructing society" through daily practices. Our behaviors, expectations, and institutional arrangements continuously reinforce, reproduce, and sometimes challenge the existing social structures.
This model shatters the myth of a binary opposition between the individual and society. It reveals that society is not an iron cage external to us, but the product of our cognition and actions. Simultaneously, we are not utterly free, atomized individuals but are deeply shaped by the social web. Recognizing this constructive power of cognition instills both humility—understanding the limitations of our own perspective—and a profound sense of responsibility. For our every act of understanding and action in the present moment contributes to shaping the social landscape of the future. We are both the creations of society and its never-ceasing creators.