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The Sociological Perspective the Self

Understanding Self (Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University)

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Lesson 2: The Sociological Perspective the Self

The Sociological Perspective of the self is based on the assumption that human behavior is
influenced by society.

Sociology as a science, study social groups and human relationships which help shed new insight
into the interconnectedness between the self and other people. Hence, sociologists offer theories to
explain how the self emerges as a product of social experience.

The Self in the External World

Feral child or Wild child is a human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a young
age with little no experience of human care, behavior, or human language. They are typically
portrayed at being raised by animals. Lack basic social skills, complete lack of interest in human
activities, impaired ability in learning human language.

The different qualities of the self is that the self is self-contained and independent. In itself it can
exist. This means we have our own thoughts, characteristics, and volition. Our self does not require
any other self to exist. Our self is consistent because it has a personality that is enduring and
therefore expected to persist.

It is also consistent which allows it to be studied, described, and measured. Also means that a
particular set of traits, characteristics, tendencies, and potentiality are more or less the same.

The self is private, self-sorts out information, feelings, emotions, and thought processes within the
self. The process is never accessible to anyone but the self.

The Self is isolated from external world. Because of this, the clash of self and external reality
is the reason for the self to have a clear understanding on what it might be, what it can be,
what it will be. From this perspective we see that the self is always at the mercy of external
circumstances that it humps/collides with. The self is ever-changing and dynamic allowing
external influences to take part in its shaping.

The Self is unitary because it is the center of all experiences and thoughts that run through a
certain person. Basically the command center or an individual where all processes, emotions,
and thoughts converge.

The self should not be seen as static. Rather, should be seen or something that is in unceasing flux,
in constant struggle with external reality and is malleable in its dealings with society. The self is
always in participation with social life and its identity subjected to influences.

Marcel Mauss, a French sociologist, believes that the self has two faces; the personne and moi. The
Moi is the person’s sense of who he is, his body, basic identity, biological givenness. The Personne is
a social concept of what it means to be who he is. What it means to live in a particular
institution, family, religion, nationality, or how to behave in given expectations/influences.

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This first part of the discussion basically explains the malleability of the self. Ex: OFWs
jaywalking in Philippines but respect traffic when in another country. Or guys that are sweet
while courting a girl and once the girl says “yes” or agrees to be her boyfriend they turn back
to the way they usually are.

Charles Horton Cooley- a sociologist introduces the looking -glass self a social psychological
concept created in 1902.

Looking-glass self- states that a person’s self grows out of society’s interpersonal interactions and
the perceptions of others.

The term refers to people shaping their identity based on the perception of others, which leads
the people to reinforce other people’s perspectives on themselves. People shape themselves based
on what other people perceive and confirm other people’s opinion of themselves.

Three main components of the looking-glass self:

First, we imagine how we must appear to others.

Second, we imagine the judgment of that

appearance.

Finally, we develop our self through the judgments of others.

The Self and the Development of the Social World

George Herbert Mead, a philosopher, psychologist and sociologist, supports the view that a person
develops a sense of self through social interaction. Mead’s theory of the social self explained that
the self has two divisions: the “I” and the “Me”.

The “Me” or the social self, is what is learned in interaction with others and with the
environment: other people's attitudes, once internalized in the self, all form the Me. The “me” is
how we believe the society or the generalized other sees us. It is what we learned through
interaction with others. The "Me" disciplines the "I" by holding it back from breaking the law of
the community.

While the “I” is response to the “me” and to the attitude of others. This means that the “I” is
when the individual identity and one’s unique trait is stepping in on our personal responses to what
society thinks. Mead also called I as the “novel or creative reply” as “I” constructs a reply based
on what we have learned.

The full development of the self is not present at birth but develops only with social experience
in which language, gestures, and objects are used to communicate meaningfully. Since there is
meaning in gestures or human actions, a person may conclude another person’s intention
which may lead him or her to understand the world from the view of others – a process that
Mead labels are role-taking in which he details the development of the self in a three-stage
process:

Role-Taking Theory

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1. The Preparatory stage (birth – 3 years old) - This stage is also called as the imitation stage.
In this stage, we see children mimic/imitate those around them and this is why parents of young
children do not want you to use foul language around kids. They do not have any idea or
understanding of what they are saying or doing

2. The Play stage (3 years old – 5 years old) - Children are believed to learn self-development
and interaction through pretend play in this stage. They start to view themselves in relation to
others as they learn to communicate through language and other symbols. Children also start to
play more formalized games because they begin to understand the perspective of others or the
perspective of their significant others. In this stage they are focused on role taking and act based on
their perceived point of view. Here, the self is developing.

3. The Game stage (6 years old – 9 years old) – The final stage where begin to understand and
adhere to the rules of the game. This is the stage where the child realizes how his/her attitudes and
viewpoints are taken into account by the expectations of society as a whole. At this stage, children
become concerned about and take into account in their behavior the generalized others or how
they are viewed. In response, children become influenced by the expectations or perceptions of
the society and they become concerned about the reactions of others by what they say or do.
However, they mainly focus on the perceptions of “significant others”. Here, the self is now
present

The Significant others are all of the people who have important relationships with the individual.
Parents, family, teachers, peers.

The Generalized other refers to the viewpoint of the social group at large. Is loosely Sigmund Freud’s
concept, Superego which is the ethical component of the personality and provides the moral
standards by which the ego operates. The superego’s criticisms, prohibitions, and inhibitions
form a person’s conscience.

The Social Development Theory

There are 3 major themes regarding Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory: social interaction, the
more knowledgeable other, and the zone of proximal development.

Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist, argues that social interaction comes before development;
consciousness and cognition are the end product of socialization and social behavior. He also
believed that the community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning."

Social Interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development. In contrast to
Jean Piaget’s understanding of child development (in which development necessarily precedes
learning), Vygotsky felt social learning precedes development. Vygotsky stated that every function in
the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual
level: (1) Social level l (Interpsychological) This is where social learning takes place because in this
stage, they interact, connect and reach out to other people. (2) In Individual level
(Intrapsychological), after acquiring social learnings, the functions will appear a second time and,
this time, more developed and thus, leading to cognitive development(self-reflection).

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According to Vygotsky, without learning, an individual won’t function and develop fully but that
does not mean that people are born with absolutely zero abilities. He claimed that infants are
born with the basic materials/abilities for intellectual development that are called the elementary
mental functions.

Sensation - hot, cold, sweet, or bitter are delivered automatically to the brain by the senses.

Hunger - bodily processes. An infant doesn’t need to be told that he is hungry since hunger will
manifest the fact.

Memory - Young children commit things to memory in a natural manner. A baby will instantly
recognize the sound of his mother’s voice, or the taste of baby food BUT he won’t be able to
associate or recognize any association like the sound of the mother’s voice to those times that
she sung him a lullaby to sleep, and he isn’t likely to identify that baby food to be the one that
he really likes to eat.

As social learning is being increased through more social interactions, his elementary mental
functions will evolve to higher mental functions. Compared to elementary, they are stimulated or are
taught, and they are learned in social settings or environments and they often come with social
meanings

Language - As a child develops, their need to communicate to others is increasing. As we grow older
and undergo a multitude of other social processes, language learning will also advance, as well
as our thought processes.

Memory - Memory can be cultivated and controlled by this time and they know how to make
relevant associations and memorized stuff they think is necessary.

Attention – Because of social learnings, the ability of focus and concentration, and the ability to
figure out what to do with whatever are learned. They are now able to decide which objects,
actions or thoughts to focus on.

Perception – Sensing is when a child is able to recognize a sensory stimulus. Their lack of perception
skills will make them unable to interpret the meaning or significance behind it. Social interactions
help the child’s level of perception, increasing his awareness and capacity to understand why things
are as they are.

The More Knowledgeable Other (MKO)

Anyone who has a better understanding, considerably higher or superior level of ability, skill or
knowledge about a particular subject, task or process, than the person who is attempting to
learn. Normally thought of as being a teacher, coach, or older adult, but could also be peers, a
younger person, and even a computer. While learning and discovery that is self-initiated is effective,
learning becomes more productive and contributory to cognitive development when acquired
from the More Knowledgeable Other.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

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This is where the child will be given the most sensitive instruction or guidance with a lot of
encouragement, just the right amount of guidance, and then allow the child to learn and develop his
skills. By letting them do it independently, the MKO will help the child develop his higher mental
functions faster.

The learning process is a social interaction which could be done directly or indirectly (with the
use of technology), between the learner and the MKO, who can be a teacher, professor, coach,
mentor, or any older adult, or a peer or even someone younger, who happens to be more skillful,
experienced, or knowledgeable in the area, subject or discipline that is being learned.

Gerry Lanuza, Filipino sociologist, he stated that in modern societies the attainment and stability of
self identity is freely chosen. It is no longer restricted by customs and traditions.

In postmodern societies, self-identity continuously changes due to the demands of multitude of social
contexts, new information technologies, and globalization.

Jean Baudrillard, he suggests that in postmodern societies, 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.

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