II.

THE SELF FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SOCIOLOGY

Sociology is one of the disciplines in the social sciences which aims to discover the ways by which the
social surrounding/environment influences people’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

To put simply, its main focus is understanding human societies and its social processes which may aid in
people understanding themselves better.

In this part, we will discuss the different perspectives, and theories of sociologists in order to better
understand how the self develops.

GEORGE HERBERT MEAD

• George Herbert Mead was an American philosopher, and social theorist who studied the
self from a social behaviorist perspective
- Born on February 27, 1863 in Massachusetts, USA
- Graduated and taught Grade School at Oberlin College.
- Enrolled in Harvard University in 1887 where his interests were Philosophy and
Psychology
- He wrote and published articles and book reviews but did not publish his own book.
- His students put together number of his articles and edited them for publication. -
He died in 1931 due to Heart Failure
• Mead was the proponent of Social Behaviorism, in which it was the approach used to
describe the power of environment in shaping human behavior. At the center of his
theorizing is the concept of self.
- Mead described the self as “dimension of personality that is made up of the individual’s
self-awareness and self-image” (Macionis, 2012)
• According to Mead, the self cannot be separated from the society.
• Mead posited a set of stages in which a person undergoes in the course of development
- Preparatory Stage – A stage in which the self-did not exist at birth but develops over
time. It depends on social interaction and social experience.
▪ Children’s behavior is primarily based on Imitation. They become familiar with
symbols (verbal and non-verbal) as they interact, and these symbols are the
bases of Communication
▪ Knowing and Understanding the symbols are important to constitute their way
of communicating with others throughout their lives (Schaefer, 2012)
- Play Stage – The stage where the child widens his perspective and realizes that he is not
alone and there are others around him which he has to consider.
▪ Knowing and Understanding the symbols of communication to constitute basis
for socialization to form social relationship.
▪ Role-taking is the process of assuming the perspective of another person to see
how this person might behave or respond in a given situation (Schaefer, 2012)
- Game Stage – The stage in which the child has the ability to respond not just to one but
several members of his social environment
 ▪ Begins to consider several tasks and various types of relationships
simultaneously.
▪ Generalized other was used to explain the behavior when a person considers
other people in the course of his action. Through this, the person realizes the
cultural norms, beliefs, & values incorporated to each self. With this, it forms
the basis of self-evaluation
Stage Existence of Self Characteristics
Preparatory Stage None Imitates Another
Play Stage Developing Role-Taking
Game Stage Present Generalized Other
• Mead’s theory of the self, states that The self is not present at birth but begins as a central
character in a child’s world.
- This means that children see themselves as “universe” and is having difficulty
understanding people around them.
- As they grow and mature, they begin to see other people and is concerned about their
reactions.
- Family plays a major role in the formation of the self. They are the Significant others –
strongly influence his development. (Schaefer, 2012)
-
• Mead’s “I” and “Me” simply explains that a person’s capacity to see the self through others
implies that the self has 2 parts:
- I Self – when the person initiates, the self-functions as subject. This subjective element
of the self is the I.
▪ The I is basically the response to the Me, it basically serves as the individual
identity/ personal identity (Miller, 2015)
- Me Self – when the person takes the role of the other, the self-function as object. The
objective element of the self is the Me.
▪ How we believe how the generalized others see us
▪ Heavily influenced by society’s view
- Ex. of the I, & Me applied, The Me would think that going to college is the next step after
Highschool, since that is the objective thing to do, what is expected of the individual.
The I would then weigh in, and respond to the Me’s idea of going to college, considering
if that is the best move forward from a personal stand point. - Recommended Video
Presentation on Mead’s I, & Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A2GIct0UnQ

CHARLES HORTON COOLEY

• Charles Horton Cooley was an American sociologist who made use of the
Sociopsychological approach to understand how societies work.
- The sociopsychological approach takes into consideration the social variables that affect
the development of an individual’s personality.
• Cooley’s concept of the Looking Glass Self states that the self is a product of social
interaction. Seeing oneself is based on contemplating one’s personal qualities and the view
of the self is also influenced by the impression of other people.
• Cooley further believed that the process of developing a self has three phases
- People imagine how they present themselves to others
▪ Ex: You dress-up elegantly at the prom
- People imagine how others evaluate them
▪ Ex: Others will see you as pretty by the way you fix yourself
- People develop some sort of feeling about themselves as a result of those impressions.
▪ Ex: You may see yourself as confident.
- It can basically be summed up in…
I am not what I think I am
I am not what YOU think I am I am
what YOU think I am.
• It is noticed that Cooley used the word Imagine.
This may mean that there is a possibility that
people develop self-identities based on the wrong
perception of how others see them. Wrong
perceptions, however, can still change based on Digital Illustration by Business Jargons
(n.d.) positive social experiences

ERVING GOFFMAN

• Erving Goffman is a Canadian-American sociologist known for his role in the development of
Modern American Sociology.
• He posited the Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life, wherein people early in their social
interactions learned to slant their presentation of themselves in order to create preferred
appearances and satisfy particular people or altering how the person presents himself to
others which he called Impression Management.
• He sees similarities of real social interaction to a theatrical presentation. This is the reason
for the label dramaturgical approach to his view.
• He used the phrase face-work to describe another aspect of the self. This was observed in
situations where face-saving measures are resorted to in the maintenance of a proper image
of self in frustrating or embarrassing situations (Schaefer, 2012)