[proverbialbunny]

Roles, shame, and whatever doesn't sound like self. It sounds like cultural taboos and status within society. Neither of those are a sense of self.

Also, countries that are more Buddhist (ones that have less sense of self) tend to be more community based cultures, so that doesn't correlate.

[doboyy]

If status is not tied to a sense of self then I don't know what is.

You mentioned in another comment that the skills you've learned are not you (roles?). They are just things you have. You've just said that identifying these roles as an abstraction is an essential part of understanding the self.

All of these things increase order in a society, and therefore, survival value. This is what I was responding to.

I didn't say that more of a sense of self, whatever that means, makes more community based cultures.