Sociological concepts for the essay: Society fundamentally shapes individuals

Presented to: Professor Darryl Ross Bridging course for Men, Carleton University
Written by: Harold Sotomayor

Assignment No. 4 – Sociological Concepts

3/8/2010
 “Society fundamentally shapes individuals - and my life is proof”

Sociological concepts

Wright Mills’s The Sociological Imagination

Process of linking individual experience with social institutions

One’s place in history - in relation to others in society

Connection of impersonal/remote historical forces to the incidents of an individual’s life

The ability to connect our own individual experiences with the workings of society

Ability to distinguish personal troubles and public issues

George H Mead’s Theory of the Self

Distinction between the Self and the Body

Self arises only in social experience

Self as something reflexive – it can be both object and subject to itself

There are many experiences to the Self without reference to the body

The Self can only be observe as a standpoint of others

Self is what is distinctive about human communication

Development of the mind and self in childhood – Me, I and generalized Other

Erving Goffman’s Presentation of the Self

Face to face interaction – people convey and receive information about each other

Everyone attempts to influence how others perceive them

People’s ability to evaluate how honestly others present themselves

Individuals have motives for trying to control the impressions they give and receive from others

Nicholas Abercrombie’s -Ch. 2- Who do we think we are?

Individuals do not worry too much about their identity

Identity is socially constructed and socially negotiated

Identity is wrapped up with a sense of belonging and Identity is a matter of difference

Anthony Giddens’s –Fragmentation, Self and Society in the Late Modern Age

Modernity fragments; it also unites.

The individual ceases to be himself; he adopts the kind of personality offered to him by cultural
patterns.

The individual experiences feelings of powerlessness in relation to a diverse and large-scale

social universe.

Authority versus uncertainty – In the domain of the self there are no determinant authorities.

personalised versus commodified experience. Modernity opens up the project of the self, but
under conditions strongly influenced by standardising effects of commodity capitalism.

Other concepts of relevance

Ronald Inglehart's – Postmaterialism

C G Jung’s - Process of Individuation, The collective Unconscious and the Archetypes

Various authors - The Effects and Influences of Technology on 21th Society

Note: The above mentioned concepts are incomplete, further research will be undertaken before an outline for
the requested essay is finalized.

HS