LESSON 2: FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF
SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY
 One of the discipline of sciences which aims
to discover the ways by which the social
surrounding/environment influences
people’s thoughts, feelings and behavior
 Though main focus is in understanding
human societies, the need to know and be
aware of social processes may make people
see themselves better when they realize how
the social world impact on their existence.
GEORGE HERBERT MEAD (Feb. 1863,
Massachusetts, USA)
o He graduated and taught grade school at
the Oberlin College
o 1887, he enrolled at Harvard University; main
interest philosophy & psychology.
o he wrote and published many articles and
book reviews but did not publish any book.
o It was his student who put together his
numerous writings and edited them for
publication
o Died because of heart failure in 1931
MEAD’S SOCIAL LIFE
Social Behaviorism
 approach that he used to describe the power
of the environment in shaping human
behavior
 center of his theorizing: concept of the self
o he described the self as “dimension of
personality that is made up of the
individual awareness and self-image”
(Macionis, 2012)
 according to him, the self is cannot be
separated from the society.
Set of stages which person undergoes in the course
of his development:
1. The Preparatory Stage
 He believed that the self did not exist
at birth
 Self develops over time
 Its development is dependent on
social interaction and social
experience
 Children’s behavior are primarily
based on imitation
 As these children grow, they become
familiar with symbols (verbal &
nonverbal) that people use in their
interaction
 Symbols are bases of communication
 Knowing and understanding the
symbol are important for this will
constitute their way of
communicating throughout their
lives
2. The Play Stage
 Skills at knowing and understanding
the symbol of communication is
important for this will constitutes the
basis for socialization
 Through communication, social
relationships are formed
 Children begin to role play and
pretend to be other people
 Role-taking in this stage according
him, process of mentally assuming the
perspective of another person to see
how this person might behave or
respond in a given situation.
 This stage is significant in the
development of the self
 At this stage children widens his
perspective and realizes that he is not
alone and that there are others
around him whose presence he has to
consider
3. The Game Stage
 Specific age: 8 – 9 years old and now
more than just role-take
 Child begins to consider several tasks
and various types of relationships
simultaneously
  Through the learnings gained in
stage 2, the children now begin to see
not only his own perspective but at
the same time the perspective of
others
 Final stage of development
 The child has the ability to respond
not just one but several members of
his social environment.
Generalized other
 term used by Mead to explain the behavior
of the person when he sees/considers other
people in the course of his actions.
 the person realizes that people in society has
cultural norms, beliefs, and values which are
incorporated into each self.
 This realization forms the basis of
how the person evaluate himself
(self-evaluation)
STAGES OF SELF FORMATION
(GEORGE MEAD)
Meads Theory of the Self
Based on the stages above, he presented his theory
of the self:
 The self is not present at birth but begins as
a central character in a child’s world.
 Children see themselves as the center of their
universe and is having difficulty
understanding others around them
 When they grow and mature there is a
change in the self.
 They begin to see other people and now
concerned about people’s reaction
 People around him especially his family,
plays a vital role in the formation of the self
 They are the significant others who strongly
influence his development
The I and Me
o George mead explained that a person has the
capacity to see the self through others
implies that the self is composed of two
parts: I self & Me self
I Self
 when a person initiates or performs
a social action
 the self functions as a subject
 this is subjective element of the self
Me Self
 when the person takes the role of
the others
 the self functions as an object
 objective element : ME
 formation of the self is not the end of the
socialization
continues for as long as a person is
alive
other sociological approach to understanding
self
Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929)
STAGE EXISTENCE CHARACTERISTICS
OF SELF
preparatory None Imitates another
Play Developing Role-taking
Game Present Generalized other
 American sociologist
 He made us of sociopsychological
approach to understand how societies work
 Earned his doctorate- university of
Michigan and become sociology professor
at this institution until the end of his life.
 Human Nature and Social Order ( 1902) –
he discussed the formation of the self
through interaction
 He stated that people learn who they are
through their social interaction
 Although seeing oneself is based on
contemplating one’s personalities, the view
of the self is significantly influenced by
impression and perception of others
 (looking-glass self)
 Self that is a product of
interaction
 he believed that the process of developing
self has three phases:
1. People imagine how they present
themselves to others
2. People imagine how others evaluate
them
3. People develop some sort of feeling
about themselves as a result of those
impression
o Dramaturgical Approach (mask)
 he sees similarities of real
social interaction to a
theatrical presentation
o Face-work (multiples mask = multiple
people)
 Describe another aspect
of the self
 Face saving measures are
resorted to maintenance
of proper image of the self
in frustrating or
embarrassing situations

 He made use in his 3 phases the word

imagine which means that there is possibility
that people develop self-identities based
on the wrong perception of how others see
them.
o Wrong perception – can still be
change based on positive social
experiences

I am not what I think I am

I am not what YOU think I am

I am what I think YOU think I am

ERWIN GOOFMAN (1922-1982)

- Canadian-American sociologist
- Known for his role in the Development
American Sociology
- The presentation of the self in everyday
life – his popular work
o He wrote how he observed that
people early in their social
interactions learned to slant their
presentation in order to create
preferred appearances and
satisfactorily to people.
o IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT
 Process of altering how the
person present himself to
others