CHAPTER 2: THE SELF FROM A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Socialization
➢ It is the whole and lifetime process by which people learn the values,
attitudes and behaviors that are appropriate and expected by their culture
and community.
➢ It is the process of internalizing the norms of society which influence one’s
beliefs, actions and behavior. The process of socialization helps shape a
person’s image.
➢ According to both Mead and Cooley, the concept of Self is developed
through socialization process.

A. GEORGE HERBERT MEAD

➢ He is a sociologist who claims that the self is not there at birth. This means
that the self is not based on inherited traits and other biological factors.
Rather, the self is developed over time from social experiences and
activities.
➢ The concept of self emerges from social interactions such as observing and
interacting with other’s opinions about the self and it is developed with
social experience. Other people play a significant role in how we view
ourselves.
➢ He explains, however, that the influence is restricted only to a “significant
others” and at certain periods. The significant others are people who play
important roles in the life of a person such as parents, teachers, friends. He
explains that the influence of the “significant others” takes place only at
certain periods in our life. For instance, younger children do not really care
about what other people think of them. They are focused on their own
world. But as children grow up and socialized, their beliefs about how other
people perceive them become “generalized other.” He described
generalized others as an organized community or social group which gives
to the individual his/her unity of the self. The attitude of the generalized
other is the attitude of the entire community. They act based on personal
belief but also on what society expects of them.
➢ Mead talks about our personality as the “I” and the “Me”. The I is the
natural, existential aspect of the self. It is the phase of the self that is
unsocialized and spontaneous. It represents the self that is free and unique.
It is the subjective part of the self. The Me is the “socialized me” or the
“cultured self.” It is the organized set of attitudes of others which one
assumes. It is the socialized aspect of the individual. It represents learned
behaviors, attitudes and expectations of others and society. It is developed
through the knowledge of society and social interactions that the individual
has experienced.

B. CHARLES HORTON COOLEY

➢ He explains how we develop our sense of self or self-image by his looking-
glass self theory. Based on this theory, we learn to view ourselves as we think
others view us. The self is developed as a result of one’s perceptions of other
people’s opinions.
➢ People are the way they are at least partly because of other people’s
reaction to them and to what they do. They are constantly picking up
feedback and incorporating it into their sense of self. It is a social
construction as well as a personal reality for it shows how others influence
the image people have of themselves.
➢ According to him, there are three steps in the formation of the looking-glass
self or how self is built through social interaction.
a. We imagine how we appear to others.
b. We imagine how others judge our appearance.
c. We develop feelings about and response to these judgments.
➢ People imagine not only how others see them and their actions and also
how others judge what they see, whether with approval, doubt or hostility.
➢ The concept of looking-glass self provides an idea on how the self develops
in relation to the perception of others. It should serve only as a guide for
reflection and shout not be taken to end up living in accordance with other
people’s expectations.
➢ Let’s make this clear. We are not influenced by other peoples’ opinion per
se. we are influenced by our own imaginations or perceptions or opinions
on how others see us. This means that we are actively engaged in defining
our self-image or self-concept using our past experiences to aid us in
interpreting others’ experiences.

❖ Private Self
▪ It is an individual self. It is the cognition that involves traits, states, and
behaviors.
▪ It is an assessment of the self by the self.

❖ Public Self
▪ It is the cognition concerning the generalized other’s view of self. It
corresponds to an assessment of the self by the generalized others.

❖ Collective Self
▪ It is the cognition concerning a view of the self that is found in
memberships in social groups.