FATHER SATURNINO URIOS UNIVERSITY

Butuan City

Social Sciences Division

Course Code: GE 101

Course Title: Understanding the Self

Lesson 2: Sociological Perspectives of the Self

A. The Self as Product of Modern Society

Sociology posits that socially formed norms, beliefs, and values come to exist within the person to a degree where these become
natural and normal (Elwell, 2003), thus, developing the person’s self-identity.

Modernization has significantly changed society, and this has affected how an individual builds and develops
his or her self-identity. Pre-modern society ― 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 (e.g. choosing where to live, what line of work to do, who to marry, etc.)

Modern society ― people are free to choose how to lead their lives but stability has decreased as traditions
and traditional support system (e.g. family) have decreased in importance ― individualism has become
dominant ― developing one’s self-identity is central

B. The Development of the Self

1. George Herbert Mead’s Theory of the Social Self

George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) developed the theory of social behaviorism to explain how social
experience develops an individual’s personality (1962, orig. 1934). The Self Mead’s central concept is the self,
the part of an individual’s personality composed of self-awareness and self-image. Mead’s genius was in seeing
the self as the product of social experience. First, said Mead, the self is not there at birth; it develops. The self
is not part of the body, and it does not exist at birth. Mead rejected the idea that personality is guided by
biological drives (as Freud asserted) or biological maturation (as Piaget claimed). Second, Mead explained, the
self develops only with social experience, as the individual interacts with others. Without interaction, as we see
from cases of isolated children, the body grows, but no self emerges. Third, Mead continued, social experience
is the exchange of symbols. Only people use words, a wave of the hand, or a smile to create meaning. We can
train a dog using reward and punishment, but the dog attaches no meaning to its actions. Human beings, by
contrast, find meaning in almost every action. Fourth, Mead stated that seeking meaning leads people to imagine
other people’s intentions. In short, we draw conclusions from people’s actions, imagining their underlying
intentions. A dog responds to what you do; a human responds to what you have in mind as you do it. You can
train a dog to go to the hallway and bring back an umbrella, which is handy on a rainy day. But because the dog
doesn’t understand intention, if the dog cannot find the umbrella, it is incapable of the human response: to
look for a raincoat instead. Fifth, Mead explained that understanding intention requires imagining the situation
from the other’s point of view. Using symbols, we imagine ourselves “in another person’s shoes” and see
ourselves as that person does. We can therefore anticipate how others will respond to us even before we act. A

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simple toss of a ball requires stepping outside ourselves to imagine how another will catch our throw. All social
interaction involves seeing ourselves as others see us—a process that Mead termed taking the role of the other.

Development of the Self according to Mead

The key to developing the self is learning to take the role of the other. Because of their limited
social experience, infants can do this only through imitation. They mimic behavior without
understanding underlying intentions, and so at this point, they have no self. As children learn to use
language and other symbols, the self emerges in the form of play. Play involves assuming roles modeled
on significant others, people, such as parents, who have special importance for socialization. Playing
“mommy and daddy” is an important activity that helps young children imagine the world from a
parent’s point of view. Gradually, children learn to take the roles of several others at once. This skill lets
them move from simple play (say, playing catch) with one other to complex games (such as baseball)
involving many others. By about age seven, most children have the social experience needed to engage
in team sports. Figure 5–1 charts the progression from imitation to play to games. But there is a final
stage in the development of the self. A game involves taking the role of specific people in just one
situation. Everyday life demands that we see ourselves in terms of cultural norms as any member of our
society might. Mead used the term generalized other to refer to widespread cultural norms and values
we use as references in evaluating ourselves. As life goes on, the self continues to change along with our
social experiences. But no matter how much the world shapes us, we always remain creative beings, able
to react to the world around us. Thus, Mead concluded, we play a key role in our own socialization.

To sum up, the Three Stages of Self Development according to Mead are:

i. Language Stage ― self-development and language are intimately tied ― it sets the stage for

self-development ― through shared understanding of symbols, 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

ii. Play Stage ― individuals role-play or assume the perspective of others ― role-playing enables
the person to internalize some other people’s perspectives; hence, he or she develops an
understanding of how the other people feel about themselves (and about others, too) in a variety of
situations.

iii. Game Stage ― individual not only internalizes other people’s perspectives, he or she is also
able to take into account societal rules and adheres to it ― self is developed by understanding the
rule, and one must abide by it to win the game or be successful at an activity.

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 Two sides of the self: “I” and “Me”

Me
product of what the person has learned while
interacting with others and with the
environment
comprised of learned behaviors, attitudes,
and even expectations
exercises social control over the self
sees to it that rules are not broken
I
part of the self that is unsocialized and
spontaneous
presents impulses and drives which enables one
to express individualism and creativity
does not blindly follow rules and understands
when to possible bend or stretch the rules that
govern social interactions
constructs a response based on what has been
learned by the “me”

2. Charles Horton Cooley: “The Looking Glass Self” Theory

As we interact with others, the people around us become a mirror (an object that people used to call a
“looking glass”) in which we can see ourselves. What we think of ourselves, then, depends on how we think
others see us. For example, if we think others see us as clever, we will think of ourselves in the same way. But
if we feel they think of us as clumsy, then that is how we will see ourselves. Charles Horton Cooley (1864–
1929) used the phrase looking-glass self to mean a self-image based on how we think others see us (1964, orig.
1902). The I and the Me Mead’s sixth point is that by taking the role of the other, we become self-aware.
Another way of saying this is that the self has two parts. One part of the self operates as the subject, being
active and spontaneous. Mead called the active side of the self the “I” (the subjective form of the personal
pronoun). The other part of the self works as an object, that is, the way we imagine others see us. Mead called
the objective side of the self the “me” (the objective form of the personal pronoun). All social experience has
both components: We initiate an action (the I-phase, or subject side, of self), and then we continue the action
based on how others respond to us (the me-phase, or object side, of self).

To sum up, Cooley believed that individuals and their personalities are products of social interactions
and social influences, and that attitudes, behaviors and self-concepts develop from our interactions with
others. As a result, we develop a feeling about ourselves by imagining what others think about the way we
look and act.

3 major elements of Looking Glass Self:

a. Our imagination of how other see us
b. Our imagination how others judge our appearance
c. The feeling of the self that results from our imagination of the thoughts others have us.

Briefly, the important aspect of Looking Glass Self is how we see ourselves influenced by how we
think others perceive us.

3. Erving Goffman: The Dramaturgical Approach

-Views social life as a stage where people interact with one another

-People are viewed as members of the audience and as actors. The parts that are played are the roles
people play in their actual respective daily routines

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 *Dramaturgical Approach- He compares the behavior of people in a society to acting on a stage.
People are acting out a script on society’s (real life) expectation and even making improvements in order to
impress the audience.

- In short, people are “social actors” who do not have a “real self” but many “real selves”

-For Goffman then, different social interactions are “on stage” and are socially structured with a
script, a responding audience, and the “stage” itself.

References:

A. Books
Alata, E., Caslib, Jr. B., Serafica, J. & Pawilen, R. (2018). Understanding the Self. Rex Bookstore:
Philippines.
Feist, J., Feist, G., & Roberts, T. (2013). Theories of personality, 8th ed. McGraw-Hill: New York.
Myers, D. G. (2014). Exploring Psychology, 9th ed. Worth Publishers. USA
Ormrod, J. E. (2012). Human Learning, 6th ed. Pearson Education, Inc.: USA.

B. Webliography
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http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150622-the-myth-of-universal-beauty

Belk, R. W. (2013). Extended self in a digital world. Journal of Consumer Research, 40 (3), 477-500.

De Leon, E. (2015). Ang Pilosopiya at Pamimilosopiya ni Roque J. Ferriols, S.J.: Tungo sa Isang
Kritikal na Pamimilosopiyang Filipino.
https://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_17/de%20leon_december2015.pdf

Dunlonsky, J., Rawson, K., Marsh, E., Nathan, M. & Willingham, D. (2013). Improving students’
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Lunenberg, F. (2011). Goal-setting theory of motivation. International Journal of Management, Business

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Neff, K. D. (2012). The science of self-compassion. In C. Germer & R. Siegel (Eds.), Compassion
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Pe-Pua, Rogelia & A. Protacio-Marcelino, Elizabeth. (2000). Sikolohiyang Pilipino (Filipino

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Reyes, R. C. (1973). Sources of Filipino Thought. Philippine Studies. 21. 429 – 437.
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Zimmerman, B. (2002). Becoming a self-regulated learner: An overview. Theory into Practice, 41 (2),
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Updated in February 2021