SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF
THE SELF
What is Sociology?
 Latin word “socius” means companion or associate
 Greek word “logos” means study
 The term sociology means the study or science of society
 Sociology is a discipline social science and concern with the human
society and human social activities
 Sociology is a scientific study of society social relationships social
interaction, human social life and culture.
 Sociology is one of the youngest social science

A U G U S T C O M T E
 A French social thinker traditionally
known as a father of sociology in his book
“course de Philosophie” wrote nature of
philosophy as.

“Know yourself to improve yourself.” – August Comte

Sociology According to Comte

 Sociology as humanistic science
 Sociology is a positive science

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SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

 Sociology is an empirical science

 Sociology is a dynamic science
 Sociology is a science

THE SELF AS A PRODUCT OF

MODERN SOCIETY AMONG
OTHER CONSTRUCTIONS

Sociology posits socially form

Sociologists are concerned norms, beliefs, and values comes to
with the following questions: exist within a person to a degree
“How does society where this become natural and normal
influence you“ (Elwell, 2003), thus, developing the
"How do you affects person’s self-identity.
society?"
Modernization has significantly
"Who are you as a person
change society, and this has affected
in the community?"
how an individual builds develops for
his or herself-identity. Pre modern
society was centered on survival. People behave according to the social
rules and traditions while the family and the immediate environment
provided supervision on how to get through life. Choosing where to live,
what line of work to do, and even who to marry was very limited
(Hermannsdottir, 2011)

Key Characteristics of Modernity According to

Giddens (1991)
1. Industrialism

o The social relations implied in the extensive use of material

power and machinery in all process of production.

2. Capitalism

o A production system involving both competitive product

markets and the commodification (putting a pricetag) labor
power

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3. Institutions of surveillance

o The massive increase of power and reach by institutions,

especially in government.

4. Dynamism

o Vigorous activity or progress

Social Groups and Social Network

Sociologist George Simmel expressed that people create social
networks bye joining one another sharing similar characteristics and
whose members identify themselves as part of the group.

Meanwhile, social network refers to the ties or connections that link

you to your social group (khan Academy, WEB).

Inorganic Group
Organic group is naturally, and it is highly influenced by your family.
This is usually formed in traditional societies because there is little
diversity in this communities. Sociologist, George stated that you join this
group because your family is also part of it, in the first place. He called it
organic motivation.

Rational Group
Rational groups cure in modern
Rational societies. Modern societies are made up of
Motivation different people coming from different places.
Rational groups are
The family in modern societies is not the main
formed as a matter motivation when joining social group.
of shared self- Relationship based on the self-interest are
interests; moreover,
not embedded as organic group. Interest
people joined this
change, when they do, group members
groups out of their
change. Simmel called this rational motivation.
own free will.

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GEORGE HERBERT MEAD

 A Sociologist from the mid 1800s.

 He is well-known for “Theory of the
Social Self”. Mead’s work focused on how
the “self” is developed. His theory is based
on the perspective that the self is a
product of social interactions and
internalizing the external (i.e., other
people’s) views along with one’s personal
view about oneself.
 Mead believed the “self is not present at
birth; rather it develop over time through
social experiences and activities

“A multiple personality is in a certain sense normal.” – George

Herbert Mead

MEAD AND THE SOCIAL SELF

Developing the Self

According to Mean, self-development and language are intimately
tied. Through shared understanding of symbols, gestures, and sound,
language gives the individual the capacity to express himself or herself
while at the same time comprehending what the other people are
conveying.

Different Stages of Self Development:

1. Language

o Language gives the individual the capacity to express himself

or herself while at the same time comprehending what the
other people are conveying.

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SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

2. Play

o At this level, the individual’s role play or assume the

perspective of others.

3. Game

o The level where the individual not only internalizes the other
people’s perspectives, he or she is also able to take into
account societal rules and adheres to it.

Two sides of self: “I” and “Me”

Mead sees the person as an active process, not just a mere reflection
of society. He further proposed two interactive facets of the self: The ‘I’
and the ‘Me’.

1. “I”
o The part of the self that is unsocialized and spontaneous.
o It is the individual’s response to the community’s attitude
toward the person. It constructs response based on what has
been learned by the ‘me’.
2. “Me”
o The product of what the person has learned while interacting
with others and with the environment.

“People construct a series
of self-representations that
are based on selected
cultural concepts of person
and selected ‘chains’ of
personal memories. Each
self-concept is experienced
as whole and continuous,
with its own history and
memories that emerge in a
specific context to be
replaced by another self-
representation when the
context changes.”
Self as Representation
Ewing (1989) asserted that a “self is
illusory. By self-representation, Ewing
meant culturally shaped “self” concepts
that one applies to oneself (Quinn, 2014);
“It is the mental entities that are
supposed to represent the self”
(Schlichtet, 2009).
According to Ewing (1990), people from
all cultures have been observed to be able
rapidly project different self-
representations, depending on the
context of the situation. The person is
unaware of these shifts; however he/she

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will still experience wholeness and continuity despite these shifts.

THE SELF EMBEDDED IN

CULTURE

“Cultural traditions and social

Cultural anthropologists have
practices regulate, express,
argues that the self is culturally shaped
and transform the human
and infinitely variable. The basic idea is
psyche, resulting less in
that the principles of how the mind
psychic unity for humankind
works cannot be conceived of as
than in ethnic divergences in
universal, but that it is as varied as the
mind, self, and emotion”
culture and traditions that people
(Shweder, 1991, p. 72).
practice all over the world.

Two Ways of How the Self is Constructed

1. Independent Construct
o Characteristic of individualistic culture, Construal is an
such as North America and Europe. interpretation
o Individualistic culture represents the self as of the meaning
separate, distinct, with emphasis on of something;
internal attributes or traits, skill, and hence in this
values. sense, the
2. Interdependent Construct meaning of
o Typical of the collectivist culture in East “self”.
Asia stressing the essential connection
between the individual to other people.

Developmental Psychologist Catherine Raeff (2010), believed that

culture can influence how you view: relationships, personality traits,
achievement, and expressing emotions.

Relationship
Culture influences how you enter into and maintain relationships.

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SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

Personality Traits
Culture influences whether (and how) you value traits, like humility,
self-esteem, politeness, assertiveness, and so on, as well as how you
perceive hardship or how you feel about relying on others.

Achievement
Culture influences how you define success and whether you value
certain types of individual and group achievements.

Expressing Emotions
Culture influences what will affect you emotionally, as well as how
you express yourself, such as showing your feelings in public or keeping it
private.

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