In this accessible and broad-ranging book, a group of internationally renowned scholars examines the senses in which we are 'social selves' whose very identities are intimately bound up with the communities and cultures in which we live. Drawings on Wittgenstein, Marx, Foucault, Bakhtin, Gilligan and MacIntyre (among others), the chapters show the diversity of influences that have shaped this exciting and controversial issue. The Social Self will be invaluable for students and academics throughout the social sciences and the humanities.