Questions and Answers
According to George Mead, which stage involves the child playing the roles of others such as acting as a teacher, soldier, or carpenter?
The Me self represents the acting part of the self and is spontaneous.
False
According to Charles Horton Cooley, what concept is developed as a result of one's perception of other people's opinion?
Looking Glass Self
The __________ consists of one's body, clothes, family, home, and other material possessions.
Signup and view all the answers
Match the following elements with their description:
Signup and view all the answers
What is the Self from the Sociological and Anthropological Perspective?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the Looking Glass Self?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the difference between the 'I' and 'Me' self?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the main idea of the postmodern view of the self?
Signup and view all the answers
What is multiphrenia?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the role of the generalized other in the development of the self?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the difference between personal identity and collective identity?
Signup and view all the answers
What is cultural identity?
Signup and view all the answers
What is national identity?
Signup and view all the answers
National identity requires the process of _______________.
Signup and view all the answers
Study Notes
George Mead's Social Self
- George Mead, a sociologist, argued that the self is not biological but social and developed through social interaction.
- The self is developed as one grows and ages through direct engagement with the world and reflection on those interactions.
- Self-awareness is conscious knowledge of one's own character, feelings, motives, and desires.
Play and Game Stages
- Play stage: a child plays roles of others, such as acting as a teacher or soldier.
- Game stage: a child comes to see themselves from the perspective of other people.
"I" and "Me" Self
- The "I" is the unsocialized and spontaneous phase of the self, representing the self that is free and unique.
- The "Me" is the self that results from the progressive stages of role-playing and the internalized attitude of others.
Role Playing
- Role-playing is the process of taking on the role of another person by putting oneself in their position.
- It develops a concept of self through imitation and internalization of others' attitudes.
Sociological View of Self
- Charles Horton Cooley's Looking Glass Self: the self is built through social interaction, which involves three steps:
- Imagining how one appears to others
- Imagining the judgment of that appearance
- Developing oneself through the judgment of others
Postmodern View of Self
- Postmodernism sees the self as a product of modern discourse that is socially and historically conditioned.
- Four basic postmodernist ideas about the self:
- The self is digitalized in cyberspace
- Electronic-mediated virtual interactions complicate the predicament of the self
- The self is constantly being redefined or undergoing change
- The self is shaped by outside forces, including media and consumerism
Anthropological View of Self
- Cultural Identity: the identity or feeling of belongingness to a certain culture group, anchored on race, gender, language, nationality, ethnicity, religion, and more.
- National Identity: the identity or feeling of belongingness to one state or nation, built on shared customs, traditions, religion, language, art, history, and more.
The 3 Fundamental Selves
- Individual Self: reflects cognition related to traits, states, and behaviors stored in memory.
- Relational Self: reflects cognitions related to one's relationships.
- Collective Self: reflects cognitions related to one's group.
Identity Struggles
- Identity struggles refer to the discrepancy between the identity a person claims to possess and the identity attributed to that person by others.
William James' Self Theory
- William James divided an individual's perception of the self into two categories:
- I: responsible for thinking and self-awareness
- Me: when one makes oneself the object of one's own thinking
- The self can be contextualized in four categories:
- Material Self: consists of one's body, clothes, family, home, and other material possessions
- Social Self: connotes the image of an individual in the eyes of others, determining reputation in society
- Spiritual Self: includes one's thoughts, beliefs, and feelings
- Pure Ego: the most puzzling aspect of the self, related to self-feelings and emotions
The Self from Sociological and Anthropological Perspectives
- The self is developed through social interaction, not biologically.
- The self is constructed through three steps: imagining how one appears to others, imagining the judgment of that appearance, and developing oneself through the judgment of others.
Charles Horton Cooley's Looking Glass Self
- The Looking Glass Self is a social psychological concept that states the self is developed as a result of one's perception of other people's opinions.
George Mead's Social Self
- The self is developed through social interaction and role-playing.
- The self goes through three stages of development: imitation, play, and game stages.
Self-Awareness and Self-Image
- Self-awareness is the conscious knowledge of one's own character, feelings, motives, and desires.
- Self-image is the idea one has of one's abilities, appearance, and personality.
Postmodern View of the Self
- Postmodernism views the self as a product of modern discourse that is socially and historically conditioned.
- 4 key postmodernist ideas about the self:
- Multiphrenia: the many different voices speaking about "who we are and what we are"
- Protean: a self capable of changing constantly to fit the present conditions
- De-centered: a belief that there is no self at all since the self is constantly being redefined or undergoing change
- Self-in-relation: humans do not live their lives in isolation but in relation to people and to certain cultural contexts
George Mead's Social Life
- Mead believes that there is no "I" self, that self is shaped by outside forces.
- The self is essentially a social process going on between the "I" and "Me" phases.
- The "I" is the phase of the self that is unsocialized and spontaneous, while the "Me" is the self that results from the progressive stages of role-playing.
The Generalized Other
- The generalized other is an organized community or social group that gives the individual his or her unity of self.
Digital Identity and Self
- Lyon (1997) argued that the predicament of the self in postmodern societies is complicated by the advent of electronic-mediated virtual interactions of cyberselves and the spread of information technology.
- Green (1997) posited that the self is digitalized in cyberspace.
The 3 Fundamental Selves
- Individual Self: reflects the cognition related to traits, states, and behaviors that are stored in memory.
- Relational Self: reflects cognitions that are related to one's relationships.
- Collective Self: reflects cognitions that are related to one's group.
Identity and Cultural Identity
- Identity refers to the qualities and traits of an individual that make him or her different from others.
- Cultural Identity: the identity or feeling of belongingness to a certain culture group.
- Cultural Identity Theory: explains why a person acts and behaves the way he or she does, and a single person can possess multiple identities simultaneously.
National Identity
- National Identity: the identity or feeling of belongingness to one state or nation.
- A nation is a group of people built on the premise of shared customs, traditions, religion, language, art, history, and more.
- National Identity requires the process of self-categorization and is influenced and shaped by material and non-material cultures.
Studying That Suits You
Use AI to generate personalized quizzes and flashcards to suit your learning preferences.
Description
This quiz covers George Mead's Social Self theory, which argues that the self is not biological but social, and explores the Play Stage and Game Stage in the development of the self.
