PREPARED BY: ESTRELLA L.

RANAS
Handout #2 – The Sociological Perspective of the Self
What is Sociology?

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We were born with a genetic makeup and biological
traits. Who we are as human beings, however, develops through
social interaction. Sociology is the study of the role of society in
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shaping behavior. It focuses on how different aspects of society
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contribute to an individual’s relationship with his world. It tends
to look outward (social institutions, cultural norms, interactions with others) to understand
human behavior. This part of the module will be focused on the self as perceived by
sociologists. We will look into the role of society in how we were shaped as to who we are
today.

The self as a product of modern society among other constructions

Now let us start exploring the “self” as a social construction. 2The classical sociological
perspective of the self holds that the self is a relatively stable set of perceptions of who we
are or our identity in relation to ourselves, others, and the social world. Our self is socially
constructed in the sense that it is shaped through our interaction with other people.
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. Through
socialization, we develop our personalities and potentialities with the influence of our culture
and society. As with socialization in general, we are not passive participants in this process
but rather, have a powerful influence over how this process develops and its circumstances.
The person can also be an agent of socialization. The self is constructed based on social
roles through socialization agents (family, school, community, etc.). How people understand
their sense of selves is closely tied to how they understand the world around them or their
relationship with others.

The Agents of Socialization:

Socialization helps us learn to function successfully in the social world. 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. Socialization is believed to be a life-long process, and it begins in our families. Parents,
grandparents, siblings - whoever you were living with when you were young, is pretty much
your entire social world. Your family is the source of what is known as primary socialization -
your first experiences with language, beliefs and values, behaviors, and norms of your
society. As you grow older, secondary socialization takes place. This is the process through
which children become socialized outside the home, within society at large. This often starts
at school. School becomes not just a place for academic subjects, but also for learning about

1
"Introduction to Sociology 2e, Socialization, Theories of Self ...."
https://opened.cuny.edu/courseware/lesson/132/overview. Accessed 31 Aug. 2020.
2
"The Self and Socialization | Boundless Sociology." https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-
sociology/chapter/the-self-and-socialization/. Accessed 31 Aug. 2020.
 PREPARED BY: ESTRELLA L. RANAS
interacting with different kinds of people. One of the
most influential agents on the development of the self
during school-age is the peer group. As we get older,
our peer group has a massive impact on the
socialization process. The media we engage with are
absolutely a part of our socialization. Television and
the internet are huge parts of our lives and definitely
have impacts on the development of our “self” Other
agents of socialization include clubs and teams,
religious groups, workplaces, political groups, and
ethnic or cultural backgrounds. Now, try to think back
on your own life - who has been the biggest influence on who you are today? As was
mentioned earlier, we are not passive participants in the socialization process, so who or
what do you think that you, yourself have influenced? These may be hard questions to
answer, but definitely, worthwhile - and hopefully a little easier now that you have learned
how sociologists think about the development of the self.

Cooley and the Looking-Glass Self Theory

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One of the pioneer contributors to sociological perspectives was
Charles Horton Cooley. 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
https://www.flickr.com/ph
with become your “mirrors.” You see what they think of you when you
otos/70251312@N00/7987 interact with them, and it changes the way you think of yourself.
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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. Now, let us try to walk through these steps. Step one, how do other people perceive
us? Maybe they think we are smart or funny, or maybe someone comes to us and says,
“Wow, I’m impressed with how you did well in school today!” But, a lot of these are just our
interpretation or just imagined. So, that is where we base our perception. Possibly, more than
what other people are saying. Step two is whether our perception is good or bad. This is our
interpretation of the perception. Let us take an example. You may then think that people
admire you and see you as a smart, diligent student. And then, the last step is our response.
This changes how we see ourselves. Like, if we are getting a lot of positive interpretations or
negative ones, it changes a specific way of how we see ourselves. As your response to your
interpretation of how other people see you, you try to act smart every time you are in class.

3
"Theories of Self-Development | Sociology - Reading." https://courses.lumenlearning.com/alamo-
sociology/chapter/reading-theories-of-self-development/. Accessed 8 Sep. 2020.
4
"Theories of Socialization | Boundless Sociology." https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-
sociology/chapter/theories-of-socialization/. Accessed 8 Sep. 2020.
 PREPARED BY: ESTRELLA L. RANAS
Mead and the Social Self

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George Herbert Mead 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. For Mead, our self is not there at birth, but it is developed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ over time from social experiences and activities .
Sociology Mead believed that as we grow up, our beliefs about how other
people perceive us start to become more important. And Mead thought that this happens
through three different stages: the preparatory stage, the play stage, and the game stage.
During the first stage - 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. They get practice
using symbols, things like words and gestures, and other forms of communication, or in other
words, language. Then they later manage to master as they grow up.
During 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. This might seem like an imitation but goes way beyond it because
the children are able to respond. They are not simply capable of mimicking social interactions;
they are capable of creating them.
During 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. They start to understand that someone can take multiple roles, that people
are not simply moms or doctors or chefs, that they portray other roles all at once. As children
begin to acknowledge the generalized other, and also start to realize that people have
multiple roles, they begin to understand that other people must have opinions about them
and that those perceptions and opinions are influenced by how they act and what they say.
As a response, they themselves begin to be influenced by these perceptions, and they start
to be concerned about and more conscious of the reactions of others to what they do.
However, they don't really care about the perceptions of everyone they come across. They
are mainly focused on the perceptions of the significant others in their life.
Mead believed that this understanding led to the development of his 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” represents the socialized self which consists of the internalized social attitudes
based from the perspective of the community. The “I” represents the unorganized, undirected

5
"Theories of Self-Development | Introduction to Sociology."
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/sociology/chapter/theories-of-self-development/. Accessed 31 Aug. 2020.
 PREPARED BY: ESTRELLA L. RANAS
tendencies of the self. 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. We can also look at the “me” as society’s view and then the “I” as the
individual identity stepping in, or our personal responses to what society thinks. Even though
we see these two parts as conflicting, for Mead, who we are or our actual self is the balance
of the “I” and the “me.”

Summary:

Sociology is the study of the role of society in shaping behavior. The sociological
perspective of the self looks into self as a social construction, which means that who you are
as a person is developed all through your lifetime under the influence of people. The self is
shaped through interaction with other people. Through socialization, we develop our
personalities and potentialities with the influence of our culture and society. Socialization
takes place through the interaction with various agents of socialization, like peer groups and
families, plus both formal and informal social institutions, like schools and clubs. Charles
Horton Cooley coined the concept “the looking glass self,” which means we see what other
people think of us when we interact with them, and it changes the way we think of ourselves.
Our experience of discovering the looking-glass self occurs in three steps. Another well-
known sociologist, George Herbert Mead, developed his theory of 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. This happens through three distinct stages:
the preparatory stage, the play stage, and the game stage. Mead also developed the concept
of the “me” and the “I,” where the “me” is the social self. and the “I” is one’s response to the
“me.”

References:
"Introduction to Sociology 2e, Socialization, Theories of Self ...."
https://opened.cuny.edu/courseware/lesson/132/overview. Accessed 31 Aug. 2020.
"The Self and Socialization | Boundless Sociology." https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-
sociology/chapter/the-self-and-socialization/. Accessed 31 Aug. 2020.
"Theories of Self-Development | Introduction to Sociology."
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/sociology/chapter/theories-of-self-development/. Accessed 31 Aug. 2020.
"Theories of Self-Development | Sociology - Reading." https://courses.lumenlearning.com/alamo-
sociology/chapter/reading-theories-of-self-development/. Accessed 8 Sep. 2020.
"Theories of Socialization | Boundless Sociology." https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-
sociology/chapter/theories-of-socialization/. Accessed 8 Sep. 2020.

Prepared by: Estrella L. Ranas – Psychology Department, CSSP, BulSU