The Self: Classical Sociology - The Chicago School
Summary
TLDRThis video explores the concept of the self, examining how sociologists understand it in contrast to psychologists. It discusses how the self is shaped by social interactions, drawing on theories from George Herbert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley, and Erving Goffman. Mead introduces role-taking and the development of self through stages, Cooley's 'Looking Glass Self' emphasizes reflective self-construction, and Goffman analyzes the self as a performance shaped by audience interaction. The video challenges the idea of a unified self, instead presenting it as a collaborative and dynamic construct shaped by societal roles and feedback.
Takeaways
- 🧠 The concept of the self can be understood as answering the question 'Who am I?' with multiple responses, such as roles, characteristics, and group memberships.
- 📚 Sociologists examine how the self is shaped by various factors, questioning its unified nature and whether it truly belongs to the individual.
- 🤔 Psychological perspectives often view the self as a unified, intrinsic personality, while sociologists challenge this idea, arguing that the self is more complex and fragmented.
- 👥 Sociological social psychology, especially the symbolic interaction school, focuses on how the self is developed and understood through social interactions and role-taking.
- 🔄 George Herbert Mead introduced the concept of role-taking, emphasizing how children develop self-awareness through stages: play, game, and generalized other.
- 👶 In the play stage, children's role-taking is limited to one person at a time, whereas the game stage involves understanding specific rules and multiple roles, reflecting increased social understanding.
- 🌍 Charles Horton Cooley's concept of the Looking Glass self describes the reflective process by which we imagine how we appear to others, receive feedback, and adjust our behavior accordingly.
- 🎭 Erving Goffman's theory of dramaturgy views the self as a performance, with individuals acting out roles and using scripts, props, and settings to present themselves to others.
- 🚪 Goffman highlights the importance of defining situations in social interactions, where both the performer and the audience have the power to accept or reject each other's definitions.
- 🤝 The self is not an inherent attribute but a collaborative construct, emerging from interactions between performers and audiences, shaped by social establishments and the dynamics of acceptance and rejection.
Q & A
What is the central question regarding the self that the speaker asks at the beginning of the lecture?
-The central question is 'Who am I?' and the speaker encourages listeners to consider various answers such as being a student, parent, worker, etc., while exploring how sociologists approach the concept of the self.
How do sociologists challenge the psychological view of the self?
-Sociologists challenge the psychological view that the self is a unified, individual essence, often seen as personality. Instead, they argue that the self is socially constructed and not a singular entity owned by the individual.
What role does 'role taking' play in the development of the self according to George Herbert Mead?
-According to Mead, 'role taking' is the ability to understand and adopt other people's perspectives and expectations. It is a crucial process in the development of the self, especially as children move from the play stage to the game stage.
What is the difference between the 'play stage' and the 'game stage' in Mead's theory?
-In the 'play stage,' children engage in simple, unstructured play without specific rules. In the 'game stage,' children begin to understand and follow rules, taking on roles within a group and understanding their place in relation to others.
What is the 'generalized other,' and how does it impact the self?
-The 'generalized other' refers to the broader societal norms and expectations. When a child develops an understanding of the generalized other, they can respond to societal demands beyond just individual interactions, shaping their self-concept.
How does Charles Horton Cooley's 'Looking Glass Self' theory explain the development of the self?
-Cooley's 'Looking Glass Self' theory explains that the self develops through social interaction. People imagine how others perceive them, interpret feedback from others, and adjust their self-concept based on those perceptions.
What is Erving Goffman's concept of 'dramaturgy,' and how does it relate to the self?
-Goffman's concept of 'dramaturgy' views social interaction as a performance, with individuals as actors presenting themselves to an audience. The self is shaped through these performances, where people use scripts, props, and settings to present themselves.
What is the significance of the 'definition of the situation' in Goffman's theory?
-The 'definition of the situation' refers to how individuals frame and define a social interaction. The performer tries to define the situation, but the audience has the power to accept or reject this definition, shaping the outcome of the interaction.
How does Goffman emphasize the collaborative nature of the self?
-Goffman argues that the self is not something possessed by an individual but is instead a product of interaction. It is collaboratively manufactured through the roles, props, and responses of both the performer and the audience.
Why is it important to study the concept of the self, according to the speaker?
-Studying the self is important because understanding how individuals form their self-concepts can reveal how societal factors, group memberships, and interactions shape personal identity. This has broader implications for how we navigate social roles and expectations.
Outlines
🤔 Exploring the Self and Identity
This paragraph introduces the concept of the self and poses fundamental questions such as 'Who am I?' The speaker highlights the variety of ways people define themselves (e.g., by occupation, gender, etc.) and raises sociological questions about how the self is understood. Factors like context, location, and group memberships are discussed as key influences on identity. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the importance of studying the self and the consequences of self-awareness.
🧠 The Psychological and Sociological Perspectives on the Self
The speaker contrasts psychological and sociological views of the self, focusing on psychology's tendency to view the self as a unified entity, such as a personality. By referencing Freud’s division of the mind into the id, ego, and superego, and neurobiology’s study of different brain parts, the speaker argues that the self may not be a unified whole. Sociologists question this unity and propose that the self may be shaped by social interactions rather than being solely individual.
📚 Symbolic Interactionism and the Development of the Self
The speaker introduces symbolic interactionism, a sociological school of thought that explores how the self is developed through social interactions. George Herbert Mead's ideas, especially on 'role taking,' are discussed. Mead's theory emphasizes how children learn to adopt others' perspectives as they move from the play stage to the game stage. Through role-taking, children develop a greater understanding of the self, progressing toward grasping societal roles and rules as a whole (the 'generalized other').
🔍 The Looking Glass Self and Social Interaction
This section focuses on Charles Horton Cooley's concept of the 'Looking Glass Self,' which suggests that individuals form their self-image based on how they believe others perceive them. It is a reflective process involving how we think we appear to others, how others judge our appearance, and how we react to their feedback. Cooley and other sociologists emphasize that the self is shaped through interaction with others rather than being an isolated entity.
🎭 Goffman’s Dramaturgical Approach to the Self
Erving Goffman's dramaturgical approach is introduced, comparing social interactions to performances on a stage. Terms like 'performer,' 'audience,' and 'props' are used to explain how individuals present themselves in social settings. Goffman emphasizes the power of the audience in accepting or rejecting the performer's presentation. The definition of the situation, where individuals frame interactions to convey specific identities, is a key concept in understanding the construction of the self.
🎬 Collaborative Construction of the Self
The final paragraph delves deeper into Goffman's idea that the self is a product of collaborative social interactions. The self is not a fixed attribute of the individual but is constructed through social processes involving both the performer and the audience. Goffman stresses that the means of producing and maintaining the self are socially established and emerge from the interaction between individuals and their surroundings.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Self
💡Role taking
💡Play stage
💡Game stage
💡Generalized other
💡Looking Glass Self
💡Dramaturgy
💡Definition of the situation
💡Social interaction
💡Group memberships
Highlights
The self can be understood by asking 'Who am I?' and considering roles like student, parent, worker, etc.
Sociologists study how the self is influenced by society and interaction, challenging the idea of a unified, individual self.
Contextual factors like work, friends, and societal changes impact how we understand ourselves.
Group memberships, such as being a parent or a worker, shape our self-concept and identity.
Psychology often views the self as a unified personality, but sociologists challenge this idea, suggesting the self is not just an internal construct.
Freud’s division of the mind into the id, ego, and superego suggests the psyche can be in conflict, which contradicts the idea of a unified self.
Neurobiology also supports the idea of a divided self, with different brain parts influencing different behaviors.
The symbolic interaction school, particularly George Herbert Mead, emphasizes that the self develops through role-taking.
Children in the play stage have limited role-taking ability, focusing on single-person perspectives like a parent’s reaction.
The game stage in development allows children to understand rules and take on multiple perspectives, increasing their understanding of self.
In the generalized other stage, children grasp societal expectations beyond individual roles, leading to a more concrete self-concept.
Charles Horton Cooley’s 'Looking Glass Self' theory explains how the self is formed by imagining how others perceive us, their judgments, and our reactions.
Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical approach compares social interactions to a performance, where individuals present themselves based on roles.
Goffman emphasizes the power of the audience to accept or reject the performer's definition of the situation, affecting the creation of the self.
The self is a collaborative process between performer and audience, created through interaction rather than being inherent to the individual.
Transcripts
good afternoon our next unit we will focus on the self in a very simple way we could think
about the self as answering the question Who am I you might have a lot of answers to that question
you might say I'm a student I'm a parent I'm a worker I'm a citizen I'm a man I'm a woman I'm
tall I'm short so we have a lot of answers to this question but what do sociologists have to tell
us about the self how we understand ourselves how we understand who we are and what we do there's a
bunch of questions that I want you to think about as we work the next couple of weeks and we focused
on we focus on self I want you to answer the question what is the self if you can offer a good
answer to this question then you're in good shape what contextual factors impact the self how is it
created how does it change when does it change what about location does it matter whether we're
at work or were with our friends had a changes in the broader society impact the self in the old
days we were farmers and there was no television and there was no not even schools the family was
basically where you worked where you went to school your family was everything our society
has changed in a major way how has that impacted how we understand ourselves what about group
memberships how do those impact the self I just said when I said who I was I said I was a father
I was a teacher a student a man a woman those are all group memberships so how do those group
memberships impact the self and the most important questions are why is it important to study this
thing this self and what are the consequences of understanding yourself a certain way well let's
begin with psychology because many folks study psychology and psychology is a lot more popular
than sociology so many of you might have an answer to these questions coming from psychology
within psychology the self is usually and I want to emphasize the word usually discussed
as a thing an essence like a personality it belongs to the individual I have this thing
that's called myself I have a personality within psychology the self or personality
is often discussed as a unified thing there is this sort of unified self or unified personality
let's challenge this idea please note that many psychological theories of the mind consciousness
and the brain divide the mind consciousness and brain into parts think about Freud one of the
most important psychologists around Freud said there was the it'd go and super-ego and these
things can be in conflict the it might want one thing the super-ego might want something
else the ego negotiates between the two but it sounds to me like the psyche is is in conflict
and it's these parts that might not be working together all the time what about neurobiologists
neurobiologists look at the parts of the brain how they function what they do and how they work but
again there are parts and maybe one part of our brain is pulling us one way another part of our
brain is pulling us up somewhere else therefore I want you to understand the sociologists question
the unified nature of the self and sociologists question whether the self is a thing created by
the individual sociologist question whether the self belongs or is owned by the individual so
let's talk a little bit about sociological social psychology which is different from psychological
social psychology specifically we're going to talk about the symbolic interaction school this
is a school of sociologists many of whom worked at the University of Chicago which is one of the
best graduate programs in the country almost for any field whether we're talking about economics
sociology or chemistry the University of Chicago is one of the best schools in the country many
people aren't aware that and there was a whole school of psych sociologists that worked there
and they created the symbolic interaction school one important sociologist is named George Herbert
Mead Mead actually did not believe in publishing he taught a lot of students and they thought his
ideas were genius after he died or maybe when he was very old I forget which his students came
together and they published his notes from his class that's what they did they said he had great
ideas let's publish his notes one important idea for Mead is the idea of role taking the ability to
use other people's perspectives and expectations in formulating one's own behavior the idea that
children struggle with role taking shows us that the self develops over time when children are in
the play stage I want to note that play stage is not guided by a specific set of rules children
will play games they will play with a car they will play with their dolls or a bear but there's
really no specific set of rules there's no winning no losing no out of bounds they're just playing
and there's no rules that are guiding them in a real strict sense at this point in development
role taking is limited to one person at a time a child can understand that his mommy or daddy is
upset with him or his mommy or daddy thinks he's doing something wrong a child can understand that
his friend is taking his toy way but it's very very limited role taking the next stage is called
the game stage to meaningfully participate in a game like soccer or baseball it means
understanding a specific set of rules I have a four-year-old son who just played his first
season of soccer and he really didn't understand the game at all he didn't understand the rules
the coach had to tell him to throw the ball in and to try to score goals he didn't really understand
the rules so my son is not really in the game stage as a four-year-old when children get a
little bit older they meaningfully understand the rules of the game and part of that is increased
role taking now a child can understand that their self is part of a team and their self has to take
on roles if you're the goalie you understand who you are and what you have to do and you understand
what the defense does and what they have to do and what the forwards arm they have to do
you understand you can answer the questions Who am I and what am I responsible for and children
in the game stage have a greater understanding of self and they understand role taking to a greater
extent they understand what other people are doing around them and why they're doing it and
how the parts fit together the last step for for me is when children develop the generalized other
another way of saying this is society the child can respond to the demands of society as a whole
the child understands it's not just daddy who doesn't want me to pick my nose society at large
doesn't think I should pick my nose and then try to touch people or try to touch food society at
large that those are those are larger rules the child can now understand that it's not just my
teacher that doesn't want me to do this this is a social role rule that many many teachers want
it's it's beyond just one situation role taking at this point involves the ability to generalize
behavior across a variety of situations and audiences at this point a child has a much
more calm concrete understanding of self they know who they are they know what they're allowed to do
and they are understanding their social role in the broadest sense another important sociologist
is named Charles Horton Cooley he wrote the book on self and social organization coolies
most important contribution is the idea of the Looking Glass self each to each a lookingglass
reflects the other that doth pass is something that Cooley wrote Cooley had three steps in the
process of developing a Looking Glass self he said it was a reflective process he said all of
us imagined how we appear to others others judge our appearance and respond to us and then we react
to that feedback for [ __ ] the self is very much something created as people interact with
each other all of these sociologists focused on interaction the last sociologists we're going to
talk about today is named Erving Goffman Goffman was the president of the American Sociological
Association at one point he wrote this book that most sociologists students will read at one point
in their major it's called the presentation of self in everyday life Goffman went to a small
island and he observed people on a daily basis he told them that he was studying farming so they
talked to him about farming because there were a bunch of farmers but he was really studying how
they present themselves and you have a reading from this book to do this week so let's talk a
little bit about Goffman's ideas Goffman has been credited with the idea of dramaturgy which means
he looks at the self as performance he looks at looks at it as a drama as as sort of like a
stage acting so Goffman uses terms like performers and audience he looks at the relationship between
the performer and the audience with every social situation I will be the performer you will be the
audience and then you're the performer and I'm the audience and he uses this way to understand
social interaction he points out that many of us are using scripts think about it when you talk
to your old friends others is there a certain set of ideas or a certain set of questions that
you ask them hey have you talked to so-and-so oh I remember you said that your kid was sick
did your kid get better you certain certain themes and ideas that are just reassuring and they sort
of scripting how we talk to each other and what we talked about he also uses the word props for
us to understand that we have like an actor we have props all around us do we pick up the chair
and throw it do we sit in the chair do we answer the phone the clothes we wear all of those things
like an actor putting on a play we have all of these things around us and they shape how
we present ourselves to others and of course all actors have a stage or a setting and we can create
our setting one of the most important ideas that Goffman wants to talk about is the definition of
the situation he argues that when two people come together one person let's say I'm the performer I
try to define the situation I try to tell people who I am what I'm about what this situation is and
I try to sort of frame the props for them and the other audience member the other person in
the audience that I'm talking to can accept my definition of the situation or they can reject
it they can offer their own definition of the situation they can offer their own definition
of Who I am of who they are and what Goffman really finds fascinating is when two definitions
of the situation come in conflict if I walked into a classroom and I say I am the teacher and
the students say no you are not we have a really fascinating situation I am presenting to others
that I am the teacher and that that definition of the situation is being rejected and Goffman says
there's something important that we could learn here one of the most important things we could
learn for Goffman is the power of the audience a lot of us give a lot of power to the performer to
the person who's presenting something and saying this is what the situation is this is Who I am but
Goffman says we should all remember the audience has the power to reject anything the performer
offers I thought we'd look a little bit at the text that you'll be reading this week there's
a key quote that I want to go through word by word with you in analyzing the self then we are
drawn from its possessor from the person who will profit or lose by it for he and his body
are merely provided the peg on which something of collaborative manufacture will be hung for a
time what Goffman is saying here is that when we analyze the self it's a collaborative manufacture
we should not focus on the person the person who gets the self the person who is labeled the
teacher or the husband or the wife or the friend we should focus on the collaborative manufacture
of the self and the means of producing and maintaining cells do not reside inside the
peg in fact these means are often bolted down in social establishments there will be a team
of persons who actively onstage in conjunction with available props will constitute the scene
from which that performed self will emerge and another team the audience whose interpretive
activity will be necessary for its emergence the self is a product of all of these arrangements
and in all of its parts the marks of its Genesis what he's saying here is that we should focus on
the interaction between the person who says hi I am the teacher and that interactive process with
the students and see how the self is created not by the person but through the interaction
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