Autonomous-Relational Self

1996

Çidem Kaitçibaşi (b. 1940)

Western researchers tend to dichotomize cultural notions of self into independent (Western) and collectivist (Eastern) orientations. Thus a child growing up in the United States is expected to be independent and self-reliant, whereas a child growing up in India is likely to have a sense of identity oriented to family relationships. This kind of dichotomizing is, of course, simplistic.

Turkish developmental psychologist Çidem Kaitçibaşi offered a third and more complex approach: the autonomous-relational self. She pointed out that most models of psychological development assume that the goal of development is an autonomous (or independent) adult self. This, Kaitçibaşi argued, is predicated on a very Western notion of selfhood. She argued that instead of this model, researchers should place changes in development in a broader cultural context. Under the pressure of modernization over the last one hundred years, there has been a convergence of independent and collectivist orientations. Globalization has made many Majority World families similar to Western families, but the strength of their cultural traditions has helped them retain close relational ties among their members. This is in contrast to older research, in which autonomy and relatedness were often contrasted as incompatible opposites. Now studies show that autonomy and relatedness are harmonious aspects of the human experience. Along with competence, they make up the three basic human needs found in all societies.

Research from around the world has emphasized the importance of social networks in the maintenance of mental and physical health. Studies conducted among immigrant and refugee populations have been particularly helpful in demonstrating that we as humans are capable of self-governance while being fully dependent on close relationships. For those who migrate from their home to a new culture, the combination of self-sufficiency and close bonds may help a person through the difficulties of adapting to a new society, especially when there are great differences between the receiving culture and the one of origin.

Since Kaitçibaşi’s articulation of the full-fledged theory in 1996, other investigations have supported the basic approach of the theory of the autonomous-relational self in cultures as diverse as Japan and the Netherlands.

SEE ALSO Culture-Bound Syndromes (1904), Cultural Relativism (1928), The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959)

Rather than dichotomizing cultural notions of the self into independent and collectivist orientations, Kaitçibaşi’s autonomous-relational self theory examines how globalization has led to the convergence of the two orientations.