Sociological Perspective

This is an academic field of study that focuses on human societies, the direct
involvement with the other group of people in the society that influence how humans behave.
People's social experiences are what lead to their current behavior and actions as a result of their
interaction. And people’s social interaction is the one who builds them to who they are now.
They gather knowledge and information about social reality through their social interactions and
experiences. Sociological perspective encourages everyone to have a different perspective at
their circumstances with the help of sociologists’ sociological theories of the self.

People should psychologically separate themselves from their limited

personal experience and adopt a sociological self-perspective that comprehends the connection
between personal concerns and societal problems. These are sociologists who believe that people
build themselves by social interaction and experience.

The first sociologist was Charles Horton Cooley,

who developed the concept of "The Looking Glass Self," according
to this individuals build their views of their own worth, values, and
conduct primarily on what others perceive of them by evaluating.
This kind of social interaction is referred to as a "mirror." Because
people discover who they are by looking at their interactions with
others. They look in their selves at the mirror and consider how
others see them, such as a friend who is kind or a classmate that is
stubborn, before imagining how they present themselves and appear to others, and then think
how people perceive and respond to how they behave and act as others make their judgment, and
they end up feeling the sense of pride, regret, or humiliation. Also, Colley first used the phrase
"looking glass self" in his work entitled, Human Nature and the Social Order in 1902.
 The second sociologist was George Herbert Mead,
his theory is the social self, which covers the concept of "self," "me,"
and "I." Individuals will learn more about the ‘I’ and ‘me. According
to Mead's theory,’ The "I" is where people may make decisions about
their own wants and needs without help from others, whereas the
"me" is how interactions with other people influence the individual
and contribute to the development of who they are. Furthermore, he
has the three stages of self-development—the preparatory stage, the
play stage, and the game stage. The first stage is the preparatory stage, which lasted at least from
birth to age three. During this time, children acquire language from those around them, mainly
their families, and they communicate with one another by movements, words, or sounds.
However, they do not yet have a sense of self. The second stage is the play stage, which lasts
from three to five years old. Children also learn to act out scenarios, and they learn to play role-
playing and, while doing so, they also learn to imagine themselves in other people's shoes or
perspective and how to express their expectations of others, all of which help them grow as
individuals. Last but not the least, the game stage, which lasts from eight to nine years old, is
when the child develops by learning and comprehending the rules of games in order to win the
game and bring home the victory. At this age, the child has already established a sense of self.
And when a child reaches adulthood, the results of these three stages of self-development
become visible.

The third sociologist was Gerry Lanuz, his theory is

about the self as the product of modern and postmodern societies. His
theory claims that modern societies have a consistency and fulfillment
of self-identity because of the freedom that people have, and that
traditions and beliefs are no longer a limitation, and it is more open
and has no barriers to things that people want, but people can
encounter a lot of challenges. In contrast, the self-identity of people in
postmodern societies is changing over time as a result of different
demands brought by globalization, social circumstances, and technology, where people can
access new information that changes who they are, and postmodern people have changed into
insatiable consumers.
 The fourth and the last sociologist was Jean
Baudrillard, his theory is about the self is a prestige symbol. Everyone
knows that they have this material self-side where they self-identity
themselves by prestige symbols that they consume. Now that people
have accessibility to media technologies, individuals may now easily
see various advertisements that tempt them to purchase goods not for
their self-interest but rather for the position they aspire to in society
and that is the feeling of goodness and power. Like when the first
person to purchase the most recent iPhone will be reported on TV and some interview him, so
the result is that people think their status is high in society if they also have that iPhone that he
has. In the end, other people are no longer content with their lives.

Individuals gain knowledge and the ability to view a variety of perspectives from
the socialization agents. It gets people ready for group interaction by demonstrating what that
group expects.

Family —mother, father, siblings, and other

family members—are the first socialization agents because
they teach children how to interact with others and to speak a
language from the beginning of their lives. They also teach
them about the beliefs, traditions, and values that have an
impact on them as a child. However, because everyone lives
a different kind of lifestyle, the opportunities and the things they learn in their families may not
be the same for everyone.

School serves as the second socializing

agent. After a child has learned from their family, their
parents send them to school, where they can connect with
others, learn the word cooperation, and develop strong
teamwork among their peers. Children learn new things in
school that they don't learn at home, like they might learn
what numbers are at home but in school teachers will teach the children about the formulas of the
numbers, or how to understand beliefs and cultures that are very different from their own
family's beliefs, traditions, and values. Children also learned social skills at school, regardless of
how different their cultures are.

Peers, or individuals with similar interests

and ages to the child, serve as the third socialization agent.
They communicate with each other with ease and are
comfortable with each other. The children gain knowledge
and learn more about others' opinions, ideas, or information
that will make them understand others’ views more with the
help of peers. Peers share opinions with the child and encourage them to improve as people,
which is a great help for the child's social interactions, but it can sometimes lead to peer pressure.

The fourth socialization agent is religion

that helps the people to form a moral behavior as a
human and makes them learn more about their beliefs,
norms, and values, and helps them to have personal and
social development as an individual. Religion teaches
everyone what is wrong or right, bad and good, and
promotes solidarity and social harmony and teaches
people to have peace with others. However, there are instances when religion is against things
like gender inequality and stereotypes. And the last socialization agent that people have is the
mass media. Everyone is very exposed and has easy access to the mass media now, and this
helps the children to interact with others virtually, which makes them stay connected with others.
Mass media helps the children to open up and express their thoughts, feelings, emotions,
opinions, and viewpoints, and let them learn more about others’ perspectives that will help to
change their views that can be seen in any part of the internet now. But, this has a negative
impact on the human because mass media are very open and things there can be so harassing and
make them more prone to judgment that is not good for people.

Everyone develops themselves through their interactions with others. Individuals

learn to develop more, think on it, and become better people when they connect and engage in
social experiences with others. Without social agents, individuals could not know how to
interact with others, which would make life more difficult. And with the theories of the
sociologist, people understand the self- more and have a differ understanding of the sociological
perspective. People engage directly with other groups of people, which helps them learn more
about various viewpoints and the value of social interaction, and this helps them to become who
they are.