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This chapter discusses the specific strengths of Dialogical Self Theory for the exploration and explanation of the phenomenon of society of the mind as it is expressed in various intricate, culturally specific discourse strategies among Indians. By focusing on a recent social movement to demonstrate the particularity of cultural processes, personal and collective meanings are explored through interviews of several citizens during a protest. The examples explain how a dramatic event can cause people to react, review, and reconstruct their internal positions related to collective reality. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The self is an alluring topic for debate, and Boesch's (2003) article creates ample space for playing with ideas and positions on personhood. I have chosen specific portions of the article to lead towards discussions of self and `I', the notion of an inner self, multiplicity of the self, and the cultural configuration and language of selfhood. This commentary has been sprinkled with examples of self-related experiences from Indian communities in order to demonstrate the important ways in which cultures can diverge in the organization of activity around being a person. Hopefully, these examples will help to distract readers from aspects of their own cultural and personal lives while entering into different perspectives on sociality and individual existence. I end by questioning whether, despite its attractions, the self has become somewhat overexposed to academic attention in the recent past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The investigation of selfhood and the various ramifications thereof have acquired a special 'position' in recent writings. Hermans' theory of the dialogical self has provided the discipline with a useful model to work with. Yet again, as psychologists from a 'non-Western' community, we find ourselves having to adjust in the process of 'acculturating' with the theoretical proposals and corresponding methods. The idea of a dialogically created and socially sustained dynamic self, which supposedly transcends cultures, is more comforting to the Asian mindset. However, there are several assumptions that need to be addressed. This commentary enunciates some of the implications of the theory from the standpoint of a distant culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]