FROM THE PERSPECTIVE

OF SOCIOLOGY
EDWIN A. AMARILA, RPM, LPT, MPSY
 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
Lesson 2: From the Perspective of Sociology
George Herbert Mead
Mead's Social Self
Stages of Self Formation ( George Mead )
Mead's Theory of the Self
The 'I' and 'Me'
Other Sociology Approaches to Understanding the
Self
FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SOCIOLOGY
Sociology is one of the disciplines in
the social sciences which aims to
discover the ways by which the social
surrounding/environment influences
people’s thoughts, feelings and
behavior.
George Herbert Mead
MEAD’S SOCIAL SELF
Social Behaviorism is the approach George
Mead used to describe the power of the
environment in shaping human behavior. He
described the self as a dimension of
personality that is made-up of the
individual’s self-awareness and ‘self -image’.
According to Mead, the self cannot be
separated from the society.
 The preparatory stage.

Its development is dependent on

social interaction and social
experience. At this stage, children’s
behavior are primarily based on
imitation. At the first stage, knowing
and understanding the symbols are
important for this will constitute their
way of communicating with others
throughout their lives.
 The play stage.

Through communication, social

relationship are formed. Now children
begin to role play and pretend to be
other people. Role-taking is the
process of mentally assuming the
perspective of another person to see
how this person might behave or
respond in a given situation.
 Play Stage

The play stage –the child widens

his perspective and realizes that
he is not alone and that there
are other around him whose
presence he has to consider.
 The game stage

Gained in stage two, the

child now begins to see not
only his own perspective but
at the same time the
perspective of others around
him.
 The Game Stage
The term ‘ generalized other’ was
used to explain the behavior of the
person when he sees/considers
other people in the course of his
actions. The person realizes that
people in society have cultural
norms, beliefs and values which
are incorporated into each self.
 MEAD'S THEORY OF THE SELF
Based on the stages above, Mead
presented his Theory of the Self. The
self is not present at birth but begins
as a central character in a child's
world. Children see themselves as the
center of their 'universe' and is having
difficulty understanding others around
them.
 THE “I” AND “ME”
George Mead explained that the person's
capacity to see the self through others
implies that the self is composed of two
parts, the I self and the Me self:

I self - When the person initiates or performs

a social action, the self functions as a
subject. This subjective element of the self
is the I.
 Charles Horton Cooley

Charles Horton Cooley stated

that people learn who they are
through their social interaction
with other people. Influenced by
the impression and perception
of others. The looking-glass self
that is a product of social
interaction.
 Ervin Goffman
The presentation of the self in everyday
life

Ervin Goffman referred to

this process of altering how
the person presents himself
to others as impression
management.
 Ervin Goffman

In Goffman’s observation of
people in everyday
interactions, similarities of
real social interaction to a
theatrical presentation.
 In Summary
Sociologists represented a
progression on how the self has
developed through the process of
socialization to how the person
manage self-presentation in order
for him to be accepted by others.