Self in Various

Perspective : Sociology
Defining sociology
• This is the study of human society;
how it began, structure, and
mechanisms.
• The study of the collective behavior
of people within society and focuses
on social problems encountered by
individuals.
• It provides tools for understanding
the human experience and society.

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In Sociology
✓ Self is
concept
basically
in the
considered
field of sociology
as the is
product
defined inof various
social interaction
ways as thethrough
presence
the
of the
utilization
larger society
of language.
and the significant
others play a major role in the
understanding of the genuine nature of
the self which is found in the realm of
collective whole.

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George Herbert Mead
✓ The father of American pragmatism and
contributor to modern social psychology.
✓ He believes that human biology does not affect
the self but instead the social interaction that
one experiences in life.
✓ Hence, the self is constructed and reconstructed
as one progresses in life.

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The social self (continuation)
✓ The ”I” and the “Me” are two aspects of the self for Mead.
○ I is the reaction of a person to the environment while the Me are
behaviors in compliance to those around him/her.

✓ Mead also theorized three role-playing stages of self development.

○ Preparatory stage (Birth to 2 years old) – this is marked with imitation.
○ Play stage (2 to 6 years old) – Children begin to socialize. A time they
discover hidden rules, trial and error, and develop self-consciousness.
○ Game stage (6 to 9 years old) – The final stage which enables the
children to be more familiarized with societal rules, their roles, and
consequences of actions.

✓ Mead finally theorized that socialization is a lifelong process. The more

we interact, the more we diversify ourselves.

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Gerhard Lenski
• His theory focused on sociocultural revolution.
• For him, human society is a process of change
that includes a society’s level of innovation,
transmissions, and technological advancements.
• Technology is the center of social change.
• There are five societies: hunting and gathering
societies, horticultural and pastoral societies,
agrarian society, industrial society,
postindustrial society