Values, Personal Identity, and the Moral Self

Abstract

This chapter outlines a theoretical backdrop for incorporating research on human values into the study of the self. The chapter takes a sociological, interactional perspective suggesting that socially shaped patterns can be empirically determined underlying the supposedly idiosyncratic notion of “personal identity.” Human beings anchor their sense of self across situations within feelings of right and wrong and the importance they place on various abstract, desirable goals. Values allow the study of this aspect of personal identity and allow bridges to be built with the long-standing sociological literature on the relationship of social structure and individuals’ values. I illustrate how this focus on the moral dimension of values operates at two well-established levels of the self – cognition and emotion – and sets the stage for the broad development of a theory of the moral actor over time.