Type of Activity:

⎕ Concept Notes ⎕ Laboratory ⎕ Individual ⎕ Quiz ⎕ Formative ⎕ Summative

⎕ Exercise/Drill ⎕ Art/Drawing ⎕ Pair/Group ⎕ Others,

“Not only is the self entwinr=ed in society; it owes society its existence in the
most literal sense.”

-Theodore Adorno
Name: _______________________________

Course and Year: _______________________

Module 2: SOCIOLOGY

The Self As a Product of Modern Society Among Other Constructions

Sociologist are concerned with questions about the person in the community. For
example, they ask question, like “how does society influence you? How do you affect
society? Most importantly “who are you as a person in the community?

Sociology posits that socially formed norms, beliefs, and values come to exist within the
person to a degree where become natural and normal (Elwell, 2003) thus developing the
person’s self-identity.
 Modernization has significantly changed the society, and this affected how an individual
build and develops his or her self-identity. Pre- moderm society was centered on survival.
People behaved according to social rules and traditions while the family and the
immediate environment provided supervision on how to get through life.

Key characteristics of modernity

According to Giddens (1991), the most patent, major characteristic of modernity are:

1. Industrialism- the social relations implied in the extensive use of material power and
machinery in all processes of production;

2. Capitalism- a production system involving both competitive product markets and the
commodification (putting a price tag) of labor power.

3. Institusions of surveillance- the massive increase of power and reach by institutions,

especially in goverment; and

4. Dynamism- the most evident characteristic of a modern society. It characterized as

having vigorous activity and progress. In a modern society, life is not a predetermined
path with limited option based on location, family, or gender, it is a
society full of possibilities. Everything is subject change , and changes happen much
more than ever before in human history.

Social groups and social network

Social group

➢ is described as having two or more pople interacting with one another, sharing similar
characteristic , and whose members indetify themselves as a part of teh group.

➢ Is naturally occuring and it is highly influenced by your family.------Organic

motivation

Rational group

➢ Occurin in modern societies.

➢ Modern societies are made up of different people coming from different places.

➢ The family in modern societies is not the main motivation when joining rational
social groups.

➢ Formed as a matter of shared self-interest.

 “A multiple personality is in a certain sense normal.”

-George Herbert Mead

George Herbert Mead was a sociologist from the late 1800s. he is well known for his
“Theory of the Social Self”. Mead’s work focused on how the “ self” is developed. His
theory is based on the perpective that the self is a product of social interactions and
intermalizing the external (i.e., other people’s) views along with one’s personal view
about oneself. Mead believed the “self” is not present at birth; rather it develop over time
through social experiences and activities.

Developing the Self

Seld development and language are intimately tied. Through shared undertanding of
sysmbols, gestures, and sound, language gives the individual the capacity to express
himself or herself while at the same time comprehending what the other people are
conveying. Lamguage sets the stage for self-development.

Second stage of self-development is PLAY------individuals role-play assume the

perspective of others. Role -playing enables the person to internalize some other poeple’s
perspectives; hence, he or she develop an undestanding of how the other people feel about
themselves (and about others, too) in a variety of situations.

Game stage-is the level where the individual not only internalizes the other peoples’s
perpectives, he or she is also able to take into account societal rules and adheres to
 Play “me”
“me”
“me”

it. According to Mead, the self is developed by undertanding the rules, and one must
abide by it to win the game or be succesful at an activity.

Two side of self “I” and “Me”

Mead sees the person as an active process, not just amere reflection of society. He further
proposed two interactive facets of the self: the “I” the and “Me”. The “me” and the “I”
have a didactic relationship, which is like a system of checks and balance. According to
Mead “me” is the product of what the person has learned while even expectations
comprise the “ me”. The “me” exercises social control over the self. It sees to it that rules
are not broken.

“I” is that part of the self that is unsocialized and spontaneous. It is the individual’s
response to the community’s attitude towrads the person. The “I” presents impluses and
drives. It enables him or her to express individualism and creativity. The “I” does not
blindly follow rules. It understand when to possibly bend or stretch the rules that govern
social interactions. It constructs a response based on what has been learned by the “me”

To Evaluate: Choose your answer from the word bank below:

industrialism Organic group

dernization
Organic group
 game “I” social group
Rational group
___________________1. this characteristic refers to social relations with the use of machinery
in production.
___________________2. this group is higly influenced by family.
___________________3. the individual at this stage internalizes some other peoples’s
perpectives by taking into account societal rules and adheres to these.
___________________4.this part of self is the product of what the person learns while
interacting with the others.
___________________5. this group implies freedom of movement.
___________________6. this is a charateristic that involves both competitive product market
and commodification of labor force.
___________________7. it is a group described as having two or more people interacting with
ane another and sharing similar characteristic as part of teh group.
___________________8. at this stage, individual role-play or assume the perspectives of others.
___________________9. this part of self presents impluses and drives, which also expresses
individualism and cretivity.
___________________10. it is charaterized as having vigorous activity and progress, which is
evident of a modern society.
Lets reflect
Instructions:
1. Watch a vedio on the life of Vincent Van Gogh. What social influence made Van Gogh the great
painter?
2. After watching, make a one page insight paper by intergrating the sociological concept into
your discussions.