More Lecture Notes

As promised, I am posting more lecture notes. Again, don't forget to check out the previous couple blog posts, especially the one on our current family activity on Chapter 11.

CHAPTER 13: SOCIETY, SELF, AND MIND: COOLEY, MEAD, AND FREUD

A. The authors open this chapter with a point I would have to agree with:
"When sociology teachers complain that they are having trouble getting their students to think sociologically, they usually mean getting them to think about society as a whole. In the United States we are more attuned to individual-level explanations." (p. 310)

1. And Cooley, Mead, and Freud certainly provide insight into the individual-level (or group-level) social interaction, although I would also insist that they were also aware of that larger social environment which plays a role in the development (and dysfunction) of individuals.


Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929)

A. He grew up, was educated, and taught at the University of Michigan. In 1918 he became President of the American Sociological Society. His work helped lay the foundation for social psychology and symbolic interactionism, more specifically.

1. He was influenced by Spencer but did not agree with his use of the more wholistic, organismic analogy. Cooley argued that Spencer did not appreciate the significance of individual interaction.

B. "Sociological concepts, for Cooley, must be anchored in the real social world of interacting individuals." (p. 312) At one point, the authors describe Cooley's understanding of social life as "MENTALISTIC."

C. Three key concepts/contributions for Cooley

1. "LOOKING-GLASS SELF" -- That is, our sense of who we are is developed in reference to others. You understand yourself, who you are, in terms of your understanding of what others think or imagine you to be.

2. How people choose to define you, look upon you -- as a criminal, nerd, star, etc. -- will likely determine your identity. Creates what is called a "SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY," a concept which I believe is especially relevant in terms of racial identity and stereotyping.

3. And these individual interactions usually take place in PRIMARY GROUPS (see definition and significance of primary group, bottom, p. 313). There is an important and obvious implication to be drawn from this type of group:
"Because primary groups are the major, universal groups, they form the basis of 'what is universal in human nature and human ideals.'"

"If primary groups are critical to human social and moral development, and to solidarity with others, then any threat to an individual's contact with significant primary groups will result in problems for the individual and society. Thus, it is very important that the child not be deprived of consistent, long-term contacts in early years." (p. 314)


George Herbert Mead (1863-1931)

A. Although there are several references to it, there is no direct mention of his major work which is his main claim to fame in sociology -- "Mind, Self, and Society" -- published 3 years after his death in 1934, and it was really put together from notes taken by his graduate students.

B. Mead himself was a philosopher, two of his most important influences were pragmatist philosopher William James (also an influence on Cooley) and German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt from which Mead came to appreciate the role of gestures, symbols, signs in human communication and interaction.

C. The authors do a good job of presenting a very basic aspect of Mead's thought, crucial to the later development of symbolic interactionism, and that is his view of personality development being socially based, involving three distinct stages which all hinge on the concept of role-taking.

1. Those three stages being: PLAY, GAME, and "GENERALIZED OTHER," generalized other being the most significant. It represents the culmination of this process of self-development through role-taking. This represents the "synthesized view" of others' attitudes and expectations built up over a long period. Primary-group interactions especially. I've always thought of the "generalized other" as similar to the CONSCIENCE or Freud's "SUPER-EGO."

D. The authors go on to note that because of Mead's emphasis on mind and self, we tend to overlook his views on the nature of society. But mind and self only develop in the context of society, society itself being basically an outgrowth of individuals interacting. It was Mead's student, Herbert Blumer, in a seminal essay, "Society as Symbolic Interaction" (1937), who develops some of the societal implications of this theory of personality development.


Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

A. Without getting into the nitty-gritty of psychoanalysis and the explanation it offers for various psychological disorders, I believe it is important to have a general overview of the Freudian view of the personality structure, and the sociological implications of that view for the relation between the individual and society (or civilization). The sociological dimension comes through clearly in his "Civilization and Its Discontents" (1930).

B. The authors give a good, succinct overview of the three elements of the personality structure -- ID, SUPER-EGO, and EGO. See bottom p. 330-331.

C. In terms of the impact of civilization, he saw it as COERCIVE, CONTROLLING our basic instinctual drives -- EROS (sexual) and THANATOS (aggressive or death instinct). Civilization is something that, in the end, makes us sick or unhappy. See middle paragraph, p. 332, which summarizes a basic point in "Civilization and Its Discontents."
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That brings us up to some comments I want to make on that handout, "Freud and the Fundamentalist Urge," which you should have read by next Tuesday. Also, since we will be getting into Chapter 14 on Functionalism, you should also read that handout from Alex Inkeles on the organismic analogy. Finally, on Tuesday I will announce another time for Q & A on "The Sociological Imagination."