THE SELF FROM THE

PERSPECTIVE OF
SOCIOLOGY
ACTIVITY: “MY ‘SELF’ THROUGH THE YEARS”

1. Get a (1) one whole sheet of yellow pad paper

2. At the front divide it into (3) three parts with each part labeled as MY ELEMENTARY
SELF, MY HIGHSCHOOL SELF, and MY COLLEGE SELF respectively
3. Write down on each part your traits, attributes, or characteristics whether it be
positive or negative during the said stage of your life
4. At the back of the yellow pad paper, divide it also into (3) three parts namely,
“Similarities in all stages of my ‘self’” , “Differences in my “self” across the three stages
of my life” ,“Possible reasons for the differences in me” and write down what is asked
5. Selected students will share to the class their output.
6. The activity is good for 30 minutes.
SOCIOLOGY
• is the study of human social relationships and institutions
• a social science that studies human societies, their
interactions, and the processes that preserve and change
them
• the science of society, social institutions, and social
relationships
WHAT IS A SOCIETY?

• an organized group of persons associated together for religious,

benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes.
• a body of individuals living as members of a community; community.
• a large group of people who live together in an organized way, making
decisions about how to do things and sharing the work that needs to be
done.
WHAT IS THE “SELF?”

In contemporary literature and even in common understanding the self is defined

by the following characteristics:
• separate,
• self-contained,
• independent,
• consistent,
• unitary,
• private
THE SELF IS SEPARATE

• The self is distinct from

other selves
• The self is always unique
and has its own identity
• One cannot be another
person
THE SELF IS SELF-CONTAINED AND
INDEPENDENT
• In itself and by itself it can exist
• Its distinctness allows it to be self-contained with
its own thoughts, characteristics, and volition
• It does not require any other self for it to exist
THE SELF IS CONSISTENT

• The Self has a personality that is enduring and therefore can be

expected to persist for quite some time
• Its consistency allows it to be studied, described, and measured
• A particular self’s traits, characteristics, tendencies, and
potentialities are more or less the same
THE SELF IS UNITARY

• It is the center of all experiences and thoughts that run

through a certain person
• It is the part of an individual where all processes,
emotions, and thoughts converge
THE SELF IS PRIVATE

• Each person sorts out information, feelings, emotions, and

thought processes within the self. The whole process is never
accessible to anyone but the self.
• The Self is isolated from the external world. It lives within its
own world.
• However, the Self is always connected and affected by external
circumstances
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVIST PERSPECTIVE

• The Self is ever-changing and dynamic, allowing external influences to take part in its
shaping
• They argue for a merged view of the person and their social context where the
boundaries of one cannot easily be separated from the boundaries of one cannot easily
be separated from the boundaries of the other
• The Self is always in participation with social life and its identity subjected to influences
here and there
• The Self is multifaceted
WE HAVE A DIFFERENT SELF FOR DIFFERENT
SOCIAL SITUATIONS
MEAD’S THEORY OF THE SELF
GEORGE HERBERT MEAD

• Is an American Sociologist
• Best known as a founder of
American Pragmatism
• A pioneer of symbolic interaction
theory
• One of the founders of Social
Psychology
MEAD’S THEORY OF THE SELF

• The conception a person holds of himself/herself in

his/her mind emerges from social interaction with
others
• The Self is constructed and re-constructed in the
process of social experience and activity
 THE TWO COMPONENTS OF THE SELF

• The self, according to Mead, is made of two components: the “I” and the
“me.”
• “Me” – represents the expectations and attitudes of others organized into a
social self. The individual defines his or her own behavior with reference to
the generalized attitude of the social group he/she occupies. It is the self as
object.
• “I” – is the response to the “me,” or the person’s individuality. It is the
essence of agency in human action. It is an individual’s impulses. It is the self as
subject.
 THE TWO COMPONENTS OF THE SELF

• The “I” is the knower, the “me” is the known

• The mind, or stream of thought, is the self-reflective
movements of the interaction between the “I” and the “me.”
• For Mead, the thinking process is the internalized dialogue
between the “I” and the “me.”
MEAD’S THEORY OF THE SELF

• The Self for Mead is the combination of the “I” and the “me,” the self
proves to be noticeably entwined within a sociological existence
• For Mead, existence in a community comes before individual
consciousness
• First one must participate in the different social positions within society
and only subsequently one can use that experience to the perspective of
others and become self-conscious
 ACTIVITY:
WHO AM I?
1. A selected student will come to the front of the class and be described
by (5) five of his/her classmates
2. After describing the said student, he/she will now tell to the class if the
said description of him/her are true and how he/she felt when his/her
classmates described him as such
3. This activity is good for 15min
THE LOOKING-GLASS SELF
Our Sense of Self is Influenced by Others’ Views of Us
By Charles Horton Cooley
CHARLES HORTON COOLEY
• American Sociologist
• Born on Aug. 17, 1864, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

• employed a sociopsychological approach to the

understanding of society
THE LOOKING-GLASS SELF

• Part of how we see ourselves comes from our perception of how others
see us
• The degree of personal insecurity you display in social situations is
determined by what you believe other people think of you.
• A person’s self grows out of a person’s social interactions with others.
• Actually, how we see ourselves does not come from who we really are,
but rather from how we believe others see us
THE LABELING BIAS

• We are often labeled in particular ways by others, perhaps informally in

terms of our ethnic background, or more formally in terms of a physical
or psychological diagnosis.
• Sometimes the expectations/labels of others start to become self-fulfilling
prophecies, and our self-concept and even our behavior start to align with
them
• If we are repeatedly labeled and evaluated by others, then self-labeling may
occur, which happens when we adopt others’ labels explicitly into our self-
concept
 YOU ARE NOT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE
THINK WHO YOU ARE
Always be what you want to be not because that is what others expect but because it is
what you yourself want
GOOD LUCK ON YOUR EXAMS!
CARPE DIEM!