SOC388 - 3. Mead

Question 1

Cooley

Answer 1

Hard to separate group + self
Capacity to think comes from social
First one to study connection betw self + society

Question 2

Cooley

Answer 2

Interconnectedness betw 2
One could not be understood without the other
Looking glass self
develop sense of self in relation to others

Question 3

2 implications:

Answer 3

develop sense of self in terms of how I think you perceive me
always comparing ourselves to others
can only understand ourselves in relation to others
smarter than other person

Question 4

Self + Society

Answer 4

child develop me faster than I
make distinction in relation to others - this is mine
not in terms of psychology or personality, but in terms of ideas
what makes both self and society, and its relationship is ideas

Question 5

three stages of the looking glass self

Answer 5

1. Imagine appearance to others
2. imagine judgement of others to our appearance
3. Self-feeling

Question 6

three stages of the looking glass self

Answer 6

sense of self develops through interactions
internalization of what we think others think of us
develops through social
Mead interested in how ideas objectified in the world

Question 7

Behaviourism

Answer 7

explaining behaviours – expression through actions/conduct, ideas represented by observable actions
start with objective and then make inferences of mind
Pragmatism: philosophical, Pragma = practice
explaining regular habitual actions
actions understood as response to an object

Question 8

Significant Symbols

Answer 8

things that have meaning that is always shared in a social context

Question 9

Mind

Answer 9

presence in behaviour of significant symbols
get at my mind through my behaviour
behaviour: stuff we can see

Question 10

Conversation of Gestures

Answer 10

Gestures: act, words, transmitted through communication
learn gestures, meaning arises out of gesture
have the same conversation of gestures in our minds
structure of conversation same in our minds

Question 11

Conversation of Gestures

Answer 11

we don’t do it consciously because it’s internalized
is reaction automatic or conscious?
usually an automatic response
imagining reactions – conversation of gestures occurs in the mind also

Question 12

Conversation of Gestures

Answer 12

anticipate their reactions
social process – same form in social world as inside
self is social in structure even if not necessarily in content
what’s intrinsically social is that conversation of gestures that is the same outside and inside our head

Question 13

Self Consciousness

Answer 13

capacity to be self conscious – being aware of self in third person
to see self as both subject and object
objective in nonpersonal way – objective in way that others see me

Question 14

Self Consciousness

Answer 14

Object – see ourselves in an impersonal way – without affect

capacity to see ourselves as object developed through interaction with others

Question 15

Self – I

Answer 15

how we react, can’t predict how we react
through I we shape society because those are our actions
can’t understand I until after the action is taken

Question 16

Self – Me

Answer 16

generalized other internalized

Me regulates I, but we aren’t always complacent

Question 17

Self – I and Me

Answer 17

many times me is regulating – society is possible
but the I can also have control
I can act in ways that are unexpected which is the cause of change in society

Question 18

Self – I and Me

Answer 18

conversation between I and Me – social interaction in our behaviour
conversation in our mind

Question 19

Stages of Development of Self

Answer 19

Play – taking on different roles, one role at a time, one person at a time
internalizing meaning

Question 20

Stages of Development of Self

Answer 20

Game – generalize ppl’s actions based on other ppl’s roles

even if people change, you generalize what they are gonna do

Question 21

Generalized other

Answer 21

general understanding of other’s ppl’s ideas
perception of generalized other will shape how we see ourselves as an object
we can never see ourselves objectively, we can only see ourselves as an object – an impersonal way – how I think others see me