SOC 2 Lecture 5: SOC2 - Lecture 5 & 6 Notes
Lecture 5 : 1/23/18
Zussman, “ The Self”
Self: Secularized version of an originally religious concept
• Differences between soul and self
• Similarities between soul and self
o Both have moral and ethical implications
o Moral judgement between others and individually
o Aimed at individuals who have not self realized
o Seen to people who are not true to themselves
A Tale of 2 Social Perspectives
Sociological Vs Psychological
Difference in focus:
• Focus on personal view on self shapes behavior (phy)
• What are social circumstances for people to have a sense of self; social interaction (soc)
Complementary Biases
• Psychologists: overly internal view of self and causes of behavior
• Sociologists: external view shaping self
Symbolic Interactionism
Herbert Blumer
• Social interactionism that take place via shared symbols
o Words, gestures, rituals, and representations
• People will act towards people, etc. based on the meaning they assign to those things
o Meanings generated in interaction with other people → shared sense
o Ex: fear of spiders leads people to be afraid when close to a spider
Symbols
Any gesture, artifact, sign, or concept that stands for signifies, or expressed something else
• Symbols are a form of communication
• Develop complex set of symbols that evolve from interactions and those symbols shape
interaction
• Allows us to communicate meanings to others
• Ex: middle finger
3 Core Components of how symbols appear in interactions
Meaning: people act towards others based on meaning they have for them
Language: symbolic naming for human society
• Negotiate meaning with others
• Categorize meanings
Thought: internal application and interpretation of symbols and language
George Herbert Mead: The self is purely a social thing.
• Produced through social interactions
Charles Horton Cooley: Looking Glass
- Argues we are only able to reflect on ourselves by adopting the perspectives of others
- can only imagine our sense of self by adopting perspective/reactions of others on our own self
- process of developing a sense of self based on how we think others think of us
- ex: funny, smart, etc
Mead: development of 2 phase self: I & Me
I Phase
• The subjective phase that acting on others in the world
• An elusive phase: acting in the moment (Mead)
Me Phase
• Objective phase that is looked at by others
Document Summary
Self: secularized version of an originally religious concept. Difference in focus: focus on personal view on self shapes behavior (phy, what are social circumstances for people to have a sense of self; social interaction (soc) Complementary biases: psychologists: overly internal view of self and causes of behavior, sociologists: external view shaping self. 3 core components of how symbols appear in interactions. Meaning: people act towards others based on meaning they have for them. Language: symbolic naming for human society: negotiate meaning with others, categorize meanings. Thought: internal application and interpretation of symbols and language. George herbert mead: the self is purely a social thing: produced through social interactions. Argues we are only able to reflect on ourselves by adopting the perspectives of others. Can only imagine our sense of self by adopting perspective/reactions of others on our own self. Process of developing a sense of self based on how we think others think of us.
