Full Idea
Selves are not independently existing soul-pearls, but artefacts of the social processes that create us, and, like other such artefacts, subject to sudden shifts in status.
Gist of Idea
Selves are not soul-pearls, but artefacts of social processes
Source
Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 13.2)
Book Reference
Dennett,Daniel C.: 'Consciousness Explained' [Penguin 1993], p.423
A Reaction
"Soul-pearls" is a nice phrase for the Cartesian view, but there can something between soul-pearls and social constructs. Personally I think the self is a development of the propriotreptic (body) awareness that even the smallest animals must possess.