Chapter Summary<\/summary>\nThis chapter offers a critical historical account of the history of personality through the lens of the modal self, the culturally dominant model of personhood in any given era. Tracing a trajectory from the moral self of the nineteenth century, through the modern self of mid-twentieth-century psychometrics, to the postmodern self of the neoliberal age, the chapter explores how psychology has actively participated in constructing and legitimising different self-ideals. Drawing on Warren Susman\u2019s concept of the modal self, it argues that psychological theory has not merely described individuals but has helped shape the normative traits, behaviours, and affective styles that each historical era demands. Through an integrated analysis of epistemology, ontology, and power, the chapter shows how each modality of the self is produced through specific ways of knowing (moral judgement, psychometric testing, performance metrics), assumptions about human nature (virtue, fixity, adaptability), and disciplinary techniques (pastoral power, classification, self-optimisation). Key theorists are situated within these cultural transformations. Ultimately, the chapter reveals how the psychology of the self is deeply entwined with political economy, reinforcing values such as moral discipline, industrial efficiency, and neoliberal adaptability in shaping the human subject.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
Chapter 15 – Quiz<\/h2>\n\n\n\n