Sociological View of Self 

Are you familiar with the famous movie Tarzan? The little  boy Tarzan was left in the forest and was
raised by apes  without human interaction. Tarzan himself was physically  human but imitated how
animals move. This story which  was supposed to be based on real life challenges the  notion of
humans being special and being a higher being  than the other animals. We may be gifted with
intellect and  the capacity to rationalize but at the end of the day our  growth and development will
still a product of our  interaction with our external reality. 
In this lesson you will explore the discipline of the social  sciences called sociology and discover the
goals, methods,  and uses of this area of study. Then, test your  understanding with a brief
activities. 
Sociology is concerned with the study of people in a group  context and not as isolated individuals.
It is the systematic  study of human society and social interactions 

The word sociology derives from the Frenchword,  sociologie, a hybrid coined in 1830 by French
philosopher  Isidore Auguste Comte (1798-1857). From the Latin:  socius, meaning"companion";
and the suffix -ology,  meaning "the study of", from the Greek λόγος, lógos,  "knowledge". 

A society is a large social grouping that shares the same  geographical territory and is subject to the
same political  authority and dominant cultural expectations. 

They have a set of institutions which provide what they  need to meet their physical, social, and
psychological  needs and which maintain order and the values of the  culture. 

5 MAJOR SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS 

1. POLITICAL 
2. EDUCATION 
3. ECONOMIC 
4. FAMILY 
5. RELIGION 

The self with modernization became delocalized self which  is free to seek its own identity; defining
religion, theological  tradition; free from customary restraints hence deviating  from the traditional
way of life. The stability of self is no  longer based on culture and tradition. 

In contemporary literature, the self can be defined by the  following characteristics: 

A) Separate – distinct from other selves, always  unique and has its own identity  

B) Independent and Self-contained – self it can exist.  Its distinctness allows its self-contained
thoughts,  characteristics and volition  

C) Consistent – self traits, potentials, characteristics  can be more or less the same 
 D) Unitary – centers on experiences and thoughts  that run through with a certain individual.  

E) Private – each person sorts out information,  feelings, and emotions, and thought processes by 
themselves.  
- Self is private it lives within its own world, it is  private because with the ever changing
world we still know what we still have a clear understanding  of what might be, what it can
be, and what will it be. 
A sociological approach to self and identity begins with the  assumption that there is a reciprocal
relationship between  the self and society (Stryker, 1980). 

The self-influences society through the actions of  individuals thereby creating groups,
organizations, and  institutions. And, reciprocally, society influences the self  through its shared
language and meanings. Society exists  to serve individuals. It is in the society that an individual is 
surrounded and encompassed by culture, as a societal  force. It is in the society again that he has to
conform to the  norms, occupy statuses and become members of groups. 
.  
The Self and Culture 

Marcel Mauss, a French anthropologist stated that self  remains the same person yet adapts in the
society as a  chameleon. He mentioned that every self has two faces:  Personne and Moi. Moi is a
person’s basic identity; it is the  person’s sense of who he is, his body, and biological  givenness.
Personne on the other hand are based on  social concepts and social roles one has to do. It is 
basically an influence of one’s institution, family, religion,  nationality and/or behaviour given the
expectations and  influences from others. 

Self and the Development of the Social World 

Try to answer the following questions 

1. How do you think people actively produce their  social worlds? 
2. How do children grow up as social beings? 3. How can Tarzan grow up just like an ape? 4.
How do twins coming from the same mother turn  out to be different from each other? 

Most often, we think human beings are passive individuals  in shaping our selves. That men and
women were born,  grow and develop particularities that they can no longer 

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change. Recent studies indicate that one has an active  participation in the process of shaping
ourselves. 

Sociological theories of the self-attempt to explain how  social processes such as socialization
influence the  development of the self. 

One of the most important sociological approaches to the  self was developed by American
sociologist George  Herbert Mead. Mead conceptualizes the mind as the  individual importation of
the social process. 

The “I” and the “me. ” The “me” is the social self and the “I”  is the response to the “me. ” The “I” is
the individual’s  impulses. The “I” is self as subject; the “me” is self as  object. 
For Mead, existence in a community comes before  individual consciousness. First one must
participate in the  different social positions within society and only  subsequently can one use that
experience to take the  perspective of others and thus become self-conscious. 

a) Primary Socialization occurs when a child learns  the attitudes, values, and actions appropriate to 
individuals as members of a particular culture. 

b) Secondary socialization refers to the process of  learning the appropriate behavior as a member
of a  smaller group within the larger society. 

c) Group socialization is the theory that an individual’s  peer groups, rather than parental figures, 
influences his or her personality and behavior in  adulthood. 

d) Organizational socialization is the process whereby  an employee learns the knowledge and skills 
necessary to assume his or her organizational role. 
In the social sciences, institutions are the structures  and mechanisms of social order and
cooperation  governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a  given human collectively.
Institutions include the family,  religion, peer group, economic systems, legal systems,  penal
systems, language and the media 

Mead’s 3 Stages of Development of Self 

1. The Preparatory Stage (birth – 2 years)  
⮚ Children mimic those around them, this is why  parents of young children are discouraged to use 
foul language around them.  
⮚ Children who usually mimic the actions and words  of their parents do not know the implications
of  such. 
2. The Play Stage (2 – 6 years old)  
⮚ Children start to play pretend and do not adhere to  the rules in organized games like patintero or 
basketball. 
⮚ Playing games with children of this age is far easier  to just with “any rules” they come up with
during the  course of the game  
3. The Game Stage (7 years old onwards)  
⮚ Children begin to understand and adhere to the  rules of the games.  
⮚ They can begin to formalize games because they  begin to understand other people’s
perspectives  and the perspective of the generalized other. 
⮚ 

For Mead
 Self and Families 
As a child is born there is a givenness and disposition  inherited from his parents’ genes .The kind of
family that  we are born in, the resources available to us, and the kind  of development that we will
have will certainly affect us  .Human persons learn the ways of living and selfhood  within the family .
Babies internalize ways and styles that  they observe from their family  
“Without a family, biologically and socially, a person may  not even survive or become a human
person”  

Gender and the Self 

Sex – biologically determined 

Gender – something that is subjected to change, alteration,  and development. There is a struggle to
fight for your right  to have a free will in choosing your gender 
In social sciences point of view of the self it it’s important to  give on the leeway to find, express and
live his identity. Our  gender partly illustrates or determines how we see 

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ourselves in the world. It is the society’s expectations to its  members  

Nancy Chodrow , a feminist proposed that mothers take the  role of taking care of the kids and family
because this is  what they witnessed growing up. Girls tend to imitate the  same and reproduce the
same action.  
- Role playing with dolls, kitchenware toys  
In social sciences point of view of the self it it’s important to  give on the leeway to find, express and
live his identity. Our  gender partly illustrates or determines how we see  ourselves in the world. It is
the society’s expectations to its  members. 

The looking-glass self: Our sense of Self is  influenced by others’ views on us 
The concept of the looking-glass self states that part of how  we see ourselves comes from our
perception of how others  see us  
Charles Horton Cooley – stated that 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. The views of ourselves come
from the  contemplation of personal qualities and impressions of how  others perceive us. 
The influence of other people’s appraisals of ourselves on  our self-concept may be so strong that we
end up  internalizing them  
The labeling bias occurs when we are labeled and others’  views and expectations of us are affected
by that labeling.  Self-labeling may occur which happens we adapt others’  labels explicitly into our
self-concept. The effects of this  labeling on our self-esteem appear to depend very much  on the
nature of the labels  
SUMMARY 
Let us see if you can remember the main points raised in  this lesson. Below is a summary of these
points: 

∙ Sociology is concerned with the study of people in  a group context and not as isolated individuals. It
is  the systematic study of human society and social  interactions. 

∙ A society is a large social grouping that shares the  same geographical territory and is subject to the 
same political authority and dominant cultural  expectations. 

∙ THE 5 major social institutions are political,  education, economic, family and religion. 

∙ The self-influences society through the actions of  individuals thereby creating groups,
organizations,  and institutions. 

∙ One of the most important sociological approaches  to the self was developed by American
sociologist  George Herbert Mead. Mead conceptualizes the  mind as the individual importation of
the social  process. 

∙ Primary Socialization occurs when a child learns  the attitudes, values, and actions appropriate to 
individuals as members of a particular culture. 

∙ The three activities can develop self are languages,  play and games.

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