The reification of self - esteem : grammatical investigations into scientific and popular texts

Abstract

This thesis examines how the reification of the concept of ' self - esteem ' has been achieved discursively. It investigates how the concept of self - esteem has been developed over time and how it operates as an explanatory construct across a rage of areas and disciplines. The analyses in this thesis examine texts coming from psychiatry, self - help publications and public policy. These disciplines have taken up, utilized and, consequently re - constructed the concept of self - esteem according to their own specific needs and their particular discursive organizations. The thesis adopts the assumption that abstract psychological constructs are linguistically achieved and thus can be most effectively studied through focusing on the ' workings of language ', rather than on ' discovering ' some inner phenomena. Informed by Wittgenstein, critical psychology, and critical linguistics, the analyses undertake grammatical investigations into the concept of self - esteem. These investigations, based on the analysis of patterns in the lexico - grammar, examine ' meanings ' accumulated in the concept of self - esteem. These examinations extend to the level of social, cultural, and political contexts which have influenced our understandings of the concept of self - esteem. The investigations of ' meanings ' embedded in the notion of self - esteem make possible an exploration of the values, assumptions and connotations carried by this concept. The analyses demonstrate that self - esteem has been constructed over time as an increasingly more tangible, internalized and cognitive phenomenon. This intensified reification produced a ' self - esteem ' that is not only a consistent and measurable ' feature ' of the human psyche, but is an agentive force shaping human lives. Moreover, these constructions of self - esteem promote particular ethical principles and ultraconservative values. Paradoxically, while discourses of self - esteem have become a part of neo - liberal philosophies emphasizing personal liberty and freedom of choice, they serve to limit the choices of many social groups.