Beyond Institutional and Impulsive Conceptions

Summary and Analysis
The article Beyond Institutional and Impulsive Conceptions of Self: Family Structure
and the Socially Anchored Real Self, written by Steve Derne in 1991, shocked the western
world and won the 1991 Stirling Award because it illuminated what anchors our real self. The
article was intended for anthropologists. The goal of Steve Derne is to criticize that the
dichotomy between institutional and impulsive self-conceptions is based on Western male
experience, and he suggests that social pressure and family structure also play an important role
in shaping self-conceptions.
Derne begins the article by citing Ralph Turner, who argues that people recognize their
real selves either by acting out institutional roles or by experiencing inner impulses. However, by
conducting 49 interviews with North Indian, Hindu men, and analyzing these data, Derne finds
that their authentic selves do not fit in those two categories. He firstly claims that family honor is
external force that drives action. People who follow traditional rules, like living in joint families,
preferring arranged marriages, and restricting the movements of women outside the home, are
not driven by their institutional roles, but rather driven by external pressures produced by others’
judgmental eyes. In addition, the author describes examples in which men go against their inner
desires to act according to social pressures and protect their honor, which proves that the Indian
men do not align their self-conception with internal impulses.
According to Derne, the Indian men are willing to be guided by social pressures for two
reasons. First, if there is no social pressure in their society, they will act destructively. It will be
hard to control antisocial impulses and bad personal behaviors. The social pressures also
establish social hierarchy and direct people into appropriate actions. Second, the Indian men
want to be guided by the elderly and social pressures, because otherwise, it is difficult for them
to see further directions, and they will undergo an extreme sense of uneasiness.
It is inessential for Indian mens selves to achieve continuity between inner beliefs and
outer actions. According to Derne’s interviews, most Hindu men report that they are not upset
when their inner desire and external demand conflict, and they choose to bow to social pressures.
However, if they do not obey the external requirements, they will feel discomfort and try to
compensate. Thus, Hindu men’s conception of self is firmly rooted in social pressure, and Derne
calls this kind of self socially anchored self. The cause of this state of mind is Hindu
men’s family life. Joint family living asks Indians to take orders starting at childhood. Also, their
personalities are shaped by prolonged maternal closeness and interaction with many adults,
which grooms them to focus on meeting the needs of others.
The article compares the similar self-conceptions and childhood experiences of Hindu
men and American women, then states the importance of the family experience in shaping the
socially anchored self. Although the author only uses American women as an example, I think, in
fact, he can hint at an idea that all cultures shape different kinds of family structures and these
family structures further shape different types of socially anchored selves. These shaped selves
are developed in order to move towards the desire of their societies. Thus, how the family unit
functions also has relevance to the politics of the society.
This article is a bridge between the discussion about kinship and the discussion of
politics. Family is the first interaction a child has with the world. The practice of positive and
negative sanctions in the family orient the child to the societal norms. Like the external controls,
politics also cultivate the internal/culture controls in the family unit.
The article demonstrates how family structures and interactions can shape self-
conceptions. It holds importance in the field of anthropology. On the one hand, it gives another
explanation of what anchors our real self, other than institution and impulse. This makes us
conscious that the dichotomies defined by the western world are not applicable to the entire
world. Anthropologists should explore more possibilities and explanations. Also, the article
examines the cultural group in the global south while the institution-and-impulse concept is built
upon the research of the global north, so it calls anthropologists to pay attention to the cultures of
minorities.
Finally, as the world is changing, some changes, such as the division of labor, changes of
urbanization, and the shift from production to consumption, will have an impact on the family
structure. Thus, for future studies in the field of anthropology, this article lets the sociologists and
anthropologists students also pay attention to how these changes in the family structure may
shape self-conceptions.