The Three Levels
The Three Levels refers to the three levels or zones of self-agency or self-potency in people’s lives: personal, relational, and systemic. This follows closely with the work of Marilynn Brewer and Wendi Gardner concerning the “three tiers of self-potency”.1 They point out, especially in cross-cultural studies, the phenomenon that people have three distinct self-concepts: the personal-self, the relational-self, and the collective-self. We use the term “systemic” instead of collective because the rise of technology embedded social networks, such as online gaming, has allowed a symbolic identity in groups without anything resembling the traditional definition of a social collective, i.e. the goals are diffuse, as well as the rules, and yet the gamer may see their identity as a “player” somewhat disassociated from the personal and relational self.
Personal
My internal world, governed by the perception of myself and empowered by my psychological resources.
Relational
My connection with others governed by our perception of each other and empowered by our shared resources.
Systemic
My role in social, political, economic, and technological systems governed by system definitions and empowered by system resources.
A similar, but more internal and neurologically idea related to self-agency is the criteria of priority, exclusivity, and consistency developed by Daniel Wegner.2 These can also be thought of as rising levels, though they are more accurately thought of in a cyclical sequence.
References & Notes
- Brewer, M. B., & Gardner, W. (1996). Who Is This “We”? Levels of Collective Identity and Self Representations. Journal of personality and social psychology, 71(1), 83-93. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.71.1.83
- “Self-agency” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-agency.