+

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE:
THE SELF AS A PRODUCT OF SOCIETY
CHAPTER 2
+
Activity

◼ Who is that significant person in your life

whom you think has a significant impact
(influence) of who you are today? What was
his/her significant influence to you?
+
Sociology

◼Study of social life, social change, and

the social causes and consequences
of human behavior.
◼ Being in a group changes “the self”
◼ Offers theories to explain how “the
self” emerges as a product of social
experience
+
Sociology

◼ Unlike Philosophy which explains

“what is the self?”, sociology answers
the question “How does the self
develop?”
+
Agents of socialization: Factors
affecting the self
Media

Technology Peers

Self

School Religion

Sports
+
Sociology and the Self
◼The self is not a product of biology,
but of social interaction.
◼ Charles Horton Cooley – looking
glass self
◼ George Herbert Mead – social self
◼ Gerry Lanuza – modern vs.
postmodern society
◼Jean Baudrillard - negative Effects of
Postmodernity
+
Charles Cooley’s the looking
glass self
◼The self is built not in solitude, but
rather within social settings.
◼Individuals base their sense of self
on how they believe others view
them.
+
Cooley’s the looking glass self

1. We imagine how we look

to the other person. (How
do other people see
me?)

2. We imagine other
person’s reaction to our
appearance. (How do
other people judge me?)

3. We respond with some

feeling (eg. pride or
shame) (What is my
sense of self according to
these perceptions?)
+
George Herbert Mead’s theory of
self
◼The self is social, it develops through
social experience.
◼It is not there from birth, but it is
developed over time from social
experiences and activities.
+
George Herbert Mead’s theory of
self
◼Stages of self:
◼ 1st stage (0-3) – Preparatory stage – children
imitate people around them
◼ No sense of self
◼ 2nd stage (3-5)– Play stage – role taking –
mentally assuming the perspective of another
◼ The self is developing and emerges through pretend
play.
◼ 3rd stage (5 – 8/9)– Game stage – can consider
tasks and relationships simultaneously
◼ The self has emerged.
+ George Herbert Mead’s theory of
self

3 activities that develop the self

• Responding to • Taking on • Understanding that

others through different roles there are rules in
symbols, (role-playing), which one must
gestures, words, pretend & express abide by in order to
expectation of win the game or be
and sounds successful at an
others
activity.
PREPARATORY
Play Games
(Language)
+
George Herbert Mead’s theory of
self
◼2 sides of the self:
◼ “me” = the socialized aspect of the
self
◼ learned behaviors, attitudes & expectations of others
and of society = OBJECTIVE

◼ “I”= the present and future phase of

the self
◼ the individual’s identity based on response to the “me”
= SUBJECTIVE
+
George Herbert Mead’s theory of
self

If the I is synonymous to the me,

then the full development of the
self is attained.
 The self as a product of
+ modern and postmodern
societies
Lanuza
Baudrillard
+
Gerry Lanuza’s (2004) the
Constitution of the Self
◼Self-identity is freely chosen.
◼ No longer restricted by customs and
traditions.
◼Modern vs postmodern society
◼ Modern = traditional values &
communities no longer part of the self
◼ Postmodern = self-identity
continuously changes due to demands
of society (mid / late 20th century)
+
Jean Baudrillard & the Negative
Effects of Postmodernity

◼The self is a
consequence
of prestige/
status symbols
+
Conclusions

1. The looking glass self (Cooley) describes

the development of the self through
interaction with others.
2. The self has 2 divisions (Mead): “I”
(subjective) and “me” (objective)
3. Self-identity continuously changes due to
demands of society (Lanuza)
4. Self-identity is sometimes achieved
through prestige symbols one consumes.
(Baudrillard)