M2: Lecture Notes
Sociology as a scientific study of social
groups and human relationships, generates
new insights to the interconnectedness
between ourselves and other people.
Charles Horton Cooley
- Looking-glass self - the people
whom we interact become a mirror
in which we view ourselves.
- Three fold event
 How we present ourselves
to others
 Analyze how others
perceive us
 Respond to the perceived
judgment; We create
ourselves
George Herbert Mead
- theory of the social self -
presents that the self has two
divisions: the “I” and the “me”.
- The “I” - subjective element and
the active side of the self
- It pertains to the
spontaneous, and unique
traits of the individual.
- The “Me” - is the objective element
of the self which refers to the
internalized attitudes
- Demands of other people
and the individual’s
awareness of those
demands.
- Three-stage process:
1. Preparatory stage (0-3 years old),
- No sense of self.
- Preparing for role-taking
2. Play stage (3 to 5 years old)
- The self emerges as children
pretend to take the roles of
specific people or significant
others, those individuals who
are important agents of
socialization.
- the self is developing.
3. Game stage (begins in the early
school years; about 8 or 9 years
old)
- Children become concerned
about and take into account in
their behavior the generalized
others which
- It includes cultural norms and
values we use as references in
evaluating ourselves.
- During this stage, the self is
now present.
THE SELF AS A PRODUCT OF MODERN
AND POSTMODERN SOCIETIES
Gerry Lanuza (2004)
- modern societies the attainment and
stability of self-identity is freely chosen.
- Problems such as alienation and
dehumanization of the self also
appear which hinder the full
development of human potentials.
- “authentic core” of the self for the
individual to freely work towards self-
realization emerged. While the
individual seeks for solid and stable
self-identity in modern society, the
postmodern individual tries to avoid
fixation and keep the options open for
self-improvement. 
Jean Baudrillard (French sociologist)
- postmodern individuals achieve self-
identity through prestige symbols that
they consume.
- The cultural practices of advertising
and mass media greatly influence
individuals to consume goods not for
their primary value and utility but to give
them a feeling of goodness and power
when compared with others.
- postmodern person has become an
insatiable consumer and may never be
satisfied in his life. Therefore, the self
may be a never-ending search for
prestige in the postmodern society.