Sociological Views of the Self

Objectives
⚫ To know the different Sociological
perspectives of the self;
⚫ To differentiate these various views
of the self;
⚫ To be able to apply these views
Sociological Perspectives of the Self:
◆ Self as Product of Modern Society
◆ Self as a Necessary Fiction
◆ Post-Modern View of the Self
◆ Self as Artistic Creation
◆ Self Creation and Collective Identity
◆ Self Creation and the Struggle for
Cultural Identity
Self as Product of Modern Society

Modernization

“delocalized” self

Free to seek own

identity; free from
customary constraints
Self as a Necessary Fiction
Self (Nietzsche) : sum of
individual’s action, thoughts
and feelings:

Self as a representation;
Post-Modern View of the Self
◆ Self is a narrative, a text written and
rewritten
Manifestations:
▪ Information technology dislocates the
self, thus, self is “digitalized” in
cyberspace
▪ Global migration produces multicultural
identities
◆ Post-modern selves are “pluralized”
Self as Artistic Creation
◆ Self is not discovered, it is made
through the socialization process.
BUT, individuals are not just
hapless victims of socialization.
◆ Individual is an active, strategizing
agent that negotiates for the
definition of himself.
Self Creation and Collective
Identity
◆ Memories (photographs, videos) play
significant role in creating the self and
identity
◆ Self creation is formed within “imagined
communities”
◆ Self creation along cultural lines must be
done in maximum cultural recognition of
differences among and between
individuals and cultural groups.
Self Creation and the Struggle for
Cultural Identity

⚫ A challenge of self-identity amidst

recognition of racial and ethnic
identities
Beyond self creation
✔ Search for self-identity is a product of
modern society but this is complicated
by the socio-cultural sensibilities of
postmodernity, new information
technologies and globalization. Yet the
project of self creation is embedded
within imagined communities.
✔ The self constantly lives in this paradox:
to pursue self creation within pre-given,
not willfully chosen social
Mead
and the
Social Self
He is well-known for his
theory of the social self,
which is based on the
central argument that
the self is a social
emergent.
GEORGE HERBERT MEAD

The social conception of the

self entails that individual
selves are the products of social
interaction and not the logical
or biological preconditions of
that interaction.
GEORGE HERBERT MEAD

It is not initially there at

birth, but arises in the
process of social experience
and activity.
GEORGE HERBERT MEAD

Mind arises out of the social act of communication .

GEORGE HERBERT MEAD
According to Mead, there are three activities
through which the self is developed:

1. Language
2. Play
3. Game
Language allows individuals to take on the “role of
the other” and allows people to respond to his or her
own gestures in terms of the symbolized attitudes of
others.
During play, individuals take on the roles of
other people and pretend to be those other people
in order to express the expectations of significant
others.
This process of role-playing is key to the
generation of self-consciousness and to the
general development of the self.
“All the world’s a
stage, and all the
men and women
merely players.”
In the game, the individual is
required to internalize the
roles of all others who are
involved with him or her in the
game and must comprehend
the rules of the game.
GEORGE HERBERT MEAD

George Herbert Mead is

also well-known for his
concept of the “I” and the
“me”.
According to Mead, the self
has two sides.
The “me” represents the expectations and
attitudes of others (the generalized other).
It is the organized set of
attitudes of others that
the individual assumes.
It is the socialized
aspect of the
individual.
It represents the learned
behavior, attitudes, and
expectations of others and
the society.
The “me” is
considered a phase
of the self that is in
the past.
The “me” has been
developed by the
knowledge of society and
social interactions that the
individual has gained.
The “I” can be
considered the present
and future phase of
the self.
It represents the
individual’s identity
based on response to
the “me”
The “I” is the response
to the “me,” or the
person’s individuality.
It allows the individual to still
express creativity and
individualism and understand
when to possibly bend and
stretch the rules that govern
social interactions.
existence in
community comes
before individual
consciousness.
One must participate in the different
social positions within society and
only subsequently can one use that
experience to take the perspective
of others and thus become
self-conscious.
The self is the
joining point
between the
individual and the
society.

Communication is
the link that allows
the interaction to
occur.
The Self: I and Me

I – the spontaneous, driving

force that fosters all that is
novel, unpredictable, and
unorganized in the self.

Me – the objective self;

the image of self seen
when one takes the role
of the other.
How Mead Matters Today
What others think of us, the
perspective of others we gain
from being a part of the
conversation of gestures, are
absolutely necessary for us to
even have a sense of self.
How Mead Matters Today
We think of ourselves as
individuals, to be sure, but we
are only able to do so by
virtue of being a part of a
larger social community.
Write a reflection soft
copy/min of 500 words)
by answering the
question “Who am I?”
using the perspective of
George Herbert Mead.