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Chapter 5, The Distributed Self: A Social Constructionist Perspective In a very real way, the self is socially constructed. Unlike the previous perspectives of chapters 2-4, which start internally to discover the self, the social constructionist perspective begins with the social context in order to discover what the self is like. It answers the question ?how do culture, history and society shape the psychology of the individual?? Social constructionists support a view which merges ?the person? and ?their social context;? the boundaries for one cannot be easily separated from the boundaries of the other. All aspects of a person, ?consciousness, mind and the self are seen as social through and through.? Therefore, it makes no sense for one to ask the question what is determined from the ?inside? and what is determined from the ?outside.? Our physical bodies, because they exist completely separate from each other, mislead us into thinking that our thoughts and feelings are completely shut out from the rest of the world. Rather, social constructionist argue that it would be more accurate ?to describe this internal place as a line momentarily and arbitrarily drawn around pieces of the public world.? While many psychologi