Sociological Perspective of Self

Sociological Perspective of the Self

• Sociology systematically examines human society, focusing on people as participants and creators.
• At the core of sociology lies the "sociological imagination".
• C. Wright Mills introduced the concept of sociological imagination.
• Sociological imagination is the ability to see connections between personal issues and broader social patterns.
• Sociologists seek to understand the nature of society, its structures, forms, and patterns.
• There is a reciprocal relationship between the self and society, which is constantly developing.
• Understanding society is crucial because the self is always acting within a social context.
• Sociologists explore the role of society in shaping behavior, looking at social institutions, cultural norms, and interactions.
• The self is socially constructed through interactions with others.
• The self develops through social experiences and the exchange of symbols.
• Understanding intention requires imagining a situation from another's viewpoint.
• The self is a relatively stable set of perceptions about who we are in relation to ourselves, others, and social systems.
• Sociologists examine how societal aspects contribute to an individual's relationship with their world.
• Self-concepts are multidimensional, reflecting roles associated with personal characteristics and social positions.
• The concept of role links an individual's self-concept to the structures of the social world.
• Roles include those associated with gender, age, family, status, occupation, race, ethnicity, location, leisure, and lifestyle.
• Roles are influenced by cultural and specific expectations that develop through regular interactions.
• Symbolic Interaction Theory views society as a product of everyday individual interactions in a world of symbols.
• Reality is defined by how we interpret surroundings, obligations, and identities.

Mead’s Development of the Self

• George Herbert Mead's work is foundational to symbolic interaction theory.
• Mead focused on the relationship between mental processes and environmental interaction.
• This relationship manifests in collaborative patterns and self-concept development through awareness of others' perspectives.
• Mead's social behaviorism critiques psychological behaviorism.
• Psychological behaviorism's stimulus-response model ignores subjective interpretation that comes from interaction.
• Humans intentionally respond to the environment by integrating subjective interpretation.
• Mead viewed the mind as the process of making sense of the environment to adapt.
• Active thinking is often triggered by problems that block needs or goals.
• The ability to think through alternative actions and anticipate results is a major evolutionary step.
• This helps humans adapt more efficiently.
• Mead emphasized the interplay between the self as the acting subject ("I") and the self as the object ("me").
• Self-concept is composed of the "I" and the "Me."
• "I" is the nonreflective aspect of the self, consisting of awareness of behavioral responses.
• "Me" is reflexive and involves evaluating completed actions from the perspective of others and self-evaluation.
• Developing the self involves learning to take the role of others.
• Self-concept is linked to acquiring roles in society.
• Roles are behavioral expectations tied to social status, reflecting unique individual styles.
• Status is a social position, and role theory investigates how social roles are learned and incorporated.
• The self is both individual and social in character.
• Self works to control meanings to sustain itself, but many self-meanings are shared.
• Shared self-meanings form the basis of interaction.

Stages of Role Taking

• Imitation occurs in infants with limited social experience, who mimic behavior without understanding.
• Play involves using language and symbols, where self emerges through taking roles of significant others.
• Games involve gradually learning to take roles of several others at once in team sports around age seven.
• Generalized others refer to widespread cultural norms and values used for self-evaluation.

Self-Concept

• Self concept develops when humans identify who they are to themselves and others.
• Humans embodies content and structure.
• Self-concept often represents self-esteem, evaluating oneself in affective terms.
• Self-concept includes the sum total of thoughts, feelings, and imaginations.
• Later conceptions suggest self-concept includes cognitive and affective components.
• Self-concept is based on self-observation, inferences about oneself, wishes, desires, and evaluations.
• Additionally self concept includes idealized and relatively unchanging views of self and self-image.
• Self-image is subject to change and revision based on situational influences.
• This self-image guides interactions and may impact core self-views.

Charles Horton Cooley’s Looking Glass Self

• Cooley related self-concept to face-to-face interaction within primary groups with the 'looking glass self'.
• Identity is formed from reflections seen in others' reactions.
• Self-concept emerges from this reflected appraisal process.
• Knowledge about ourselves is derived from others.
• The three elements of self concept: imagination of how we appear, judgments of our appearance, and self-feeling.
• Emotional reactions to responses from others is important.
• Approval and disapproval from others leads to pride or shame.
• Self-concepts are filtered through perceptions, resembling how we think others see us.
• Identity extends beyond our selves to include family, friends, and primary group relations.
• Saying 'my family' expands sense of self.

Primary vs Secondary Groups

• Primary groups are groups we most strongly identify with.
• Secondary groups are characterized by intimate face-to-face relationships.
• Unity and cohesiveness are bound together in primary groups.

Erving Goffman’s Dramaturgic Approach

• Goffman explored strategies for "presentation of self" to gain social validation.
• Individuals employ various strategies to create a good impression to obtain social validation.
• Approach reflects that all the world is a stage, a particular role is performed, and finally, an exit occurs.
• Individuals control appearance and setting to "put their best foot forward."