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    Understanding The Self - Sociology

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    Johnrogel Ilingan
    Sociology examines how society shapes individual behavior and relationships. The self is constructed through socialization and interactions with social groups and institutions. Charles Cooley proposed the looking-glass self theory - that people understand themselves based on how they imagine others see them. George Mead argued the social self emerges through role-taking and understanding social expectations, developing from imitation to understanding specific and generalized perspectives of others.

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    Understanding The Self - Sociology

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    Johnrogel Ilingan
    59 views16 pages
    Sociology examines how society shapes individual behavior and relationships. The self is constructed through socialization and interactions with social groups and institutions. Charles Cooley proposed the looking-glass self theory - that people understand themselves based on how they imagine others see them. George Mead argued the social self emerges through role-taking and understanding social expectations, developing from imitation to understanding specific and generalized perspectives of others.

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    Understanding the Self - Sociology

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    Sociology examines how society shapes individual behavior and relationships. The self is constructed through socialization and interactions with social groups and institutions. Charles Cooley proposed the looking-glass self theory - that people understand themselves based on how they imagine others see them. George Mead argued the social self emerges through role-taking and understanding social expectations, developing from imitation to understanding specific and generalized perspectives of others.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    59 views16 pages

    Understanding The Self - Sociology

    Uploaded by

    Johnrogel Ilingan
    Sociology examines how society shapes individual behavior and relationships. The self is constructed through socialization and interactions with social groups and institutions. Charles Cooley proposed the looking-glass self theory - that people understand themselves based on how they imagine others see them. George Mead argued the social self emerges through role-taking and understanding social expectations, developing from imitation to understanding specific and generalized perspectives of others.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 16

    Understanding the Self

    Sociology
    Ms. Angelica E. Balatong
    What is Sociology?
    Sociology
    Sociology is the study of the role of society in
    shaping behavior. It focuses on how different
    aspects of society contribute to an individual’s
    relationship with his world.
    How do you perceive yourself in
    relation to others?
    The self as a product of modern
    society among other constructions
    The sociological theories of the self try to explain how social
    processes such as socialization influence the development of the
    self. Socialization is the process of learning one’s culture and how
    to live within it. In other words, it is the process whereby an
    individual learns to adjust to a group and behave in a way that is
    approved by the group.
    The Agents of Socialization:
    Socialization helps us learn to function successfully in
    their social worlds. This learning takes place through
    interaction with the various agents of socialization, like
    our families and peer groups, plus both formal and
    informal social institutions, like schools and clubs.
    Charles Horton Cooley
    He was one of the pioneer contributors to sociological
    perspectives. He asserted that people’s self-understanding is
    constructed, in part, by their perception of how others view
    them—a process termed “the looking glass self.” For Cooley,
    we gradually figure out who we are as we grow up. You
    figure out what you look like by looking in a mirror. However,
    you figure out who you are through social interactions. The
    people you interact with become your “mirrors.”
    Cooley and the Looking-Glass Self Theory
    The process of discovering and experiencing the looking-
    glass self occurs in three steps:
    First, we imagine how we appear to others.
    Second, we imagine the judgment of that appearance.
    Third, we develop our self (identity) through the
    judgments of others.
    George Herbert Mead
    He is a well-known sociologist for his theory of the
    social self. It is based on the perspective that the self
    emerges from social interactions, such as observing and
    interacting with others, responding about others’
    opinions about oneself, and internalizing them together
    with one’s feelings about oneself.
    The Social Self
    For Mead, our self is not there at birth, but it is
    developed over time from social experiences and
    activities. Mead believed that as we grow up, our beliefs
    about how other people perceive us start to become
    more important.
    Mead thought that this happens through three different stages:
    the preparatory stage
    the play stage
    the game stage
    THE PREPARATORY STAGE
    children interact with others through imitation. Children may
    play with pots and pans when a person is cooking or use a
    broom when their mothers try to clean but are not really true
    interactions. As children grow, they begin to focus more on
    communicating with others as opposed to simply imitating
    them.
    THE PLAY STAGE
    children start to become more aware of the importance of
    social relationships. This is evident in children’s tendency to
    pretend to play like other people. They play mommies or
    daddies or doctors or chefs, etcetera. And, whereas before
    they were incapable of taking on the perspective of others,
    now they are beginning to focus on role-taking or mentally
    assuming the perspectives of another person and acting
    based on their perceived point of view.
    THE GAME STAGE
    children’s understanding of social interactions become even
    more developed. Children begin to understand the attitudes,
    beliefs, and behaviors of what Mead referred to as the
    “generalized other,” or the society as a whole. With this
    comes a full understanding of society. For instance, children
    begin to realize that people do not only perform in ways
    according to what they personally believe in but also based
    on what society expects of them.
    Concept of the “I” and the “me.”
    For Mead, the “me” is our social self, and the “I” is our response to
    the “me.” The “me” is how we believe the generalized other sees
    us and what we learn through interactions with others. On the
    other hand, the “I” thinks about what those things mean. As an
    example, the “me” might understand that women in the Philippines
    typically marry in their 20’s, but the “I” might wonder if that is best,
    if maybe it would be best if some wait longer and delay marrying
    or if they may be travel or enjoy more their singlehood for a few
    years.

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