Theories of Self & Society

Theories of Self & Society Mead – Simmel – Du Bois February 29, 2012 Instructor: Sarah Whetstone

Theories of Self & Society:Key Concepts • “The Self” – George Herbert Mead • The “social self” • “Self” as an active, reflexive project, ongoing through social interaction • “I” and “Me” – aspects of the self • Stages of role-taking (mind, play, game, generalized other) • “The Stranger” – Georg Simmel • The stranger • “veil” of social difference • “Group Expansion and the Development of Individuality” – Georg Simmel • Size of social circle and individuality • Dualistic drive • “The Souls of Black Folk” – W.E.B. Du Bois • Double-consciousness • Prejudice as ideological “veil”

Theories of Self & Society • Moving beyond “the big three” • Marx: Individual is alienated from own species-being • Durkheim: social facts shape the individual and explain the social world • Weber: Subjective motivations determine human action– Ideas can have great cultural significance • Mead, Simmel, Du Bois all took a more micro approach, looking closely at how “the self” is formed. • How does self-awareness arise? • How do mind, self, and society interact? • How does social difference influence development of identity?

Is society the action of individuals or the collective conscience of a society sui generis? Or something in between? Social Structure Social Action the “Self” What are the bases of social interaction that make up society and the individuals within it?

Mind and Self: The Study of the “Individual” Phrenology – early science of the mind Late 1800s – William Wundt’s science of psychology Sigmund Freud – psychoanalytic theory Mead – social psychology; symbolic interactionism Individual = product of mental structure Individual = product of social interaction

Mead and the Philosophy of Pragmatism Pragmatism – John Dewey, William James Theory of knowledge that holds that the truth of an idea is to be found in its practical application in everyday life—rejects the idea of universal truths. Individuals improvise their actions and behaviors to respond to the actions and reactions of others, in order to solve the problems of existence. (Social) reality is being constantly negotiated.

Charles Horton Cooley (1864 – 1929) Pragmatic Sociology People are active communicators. As we negotiate our worlds, we are constantly concerned about others’ perceptions. “Looking glass self” – Famous sociological concept • We imagine how we look to other people. • We imagine how other people judge our presentation. • This produces “self-feelings” like pride, embarrassment, or praise that shape our self conception.

The Looking Glass Self: I am who I think you think I am.

Mead George Herbert (1863-1931) “the self…arises in the process of social experience” Born in South Hadley, Massachusetts Studied philosophy at Harvard, Leipzig, and Berlin Taught at Univ. of Michigan & Univ. of Chicago Stellar lecturer and social reformer Intellectual Roots Pragmatism Behavioral Psychology

the importance of… unlike animals, humans can delay their responses to stimuli… We interpret through the use of significant gestures, or actions that arouse the same response in the self as in others. How do gestures become significant? Through interaction…

? “The self is something which has a development; it is not initially there, at birth, but arises in the process of social experience and activity…it is an object to itself, and that characteristic distinguishes it from other objects and the body.” (p. 282-83) What is the Not innate, but emerges when we can take on the role of others. Gestures and symbols become significant through interaction with others. Reflexivity—put ourselves in the place of others and act as they do.

Emergence of The Self Google image • The self is developed from three inter-subjective forms of interaction: • Language • Play • Game • The key to this process is “taking the role of the generalized other” in order to gain essential self-realization. (Mind, Self and Society 160-161).

Self as “I” and “Me” “Me” reflects the attitude of the generalized other. “I” responds to the attitude of the generalized other. _________________________ “both aspects of the ‘me’ and the ‘I’ are essential to the self in its full expression” (Mind, Self and Society 199). The individual takes the attitude of the “me” or of the “I” according to situations. Both the community and individual are necessary to identity. Google image • There are 2 parts of the self: • “ I ”- is the initial self • “ Me ” - is the developed social self

“Pure Play” or the Unsocialized “I” http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8vNxjwt2AqY

The Play:—1st in childhood development— “Me” starts to develop: point of view from others Children play games to develop adult roles Cops and Robbers, “playing house,” etc. “A child plays at being a mother, at being a teacher… at playing different roles” (287). Subject and Object Self becomes an object

The Game:—2nd stage in developing self— Forms through experience and interaction Taking the role of those all involved in the game, or situation The organization of roles are based on rules Which helps  Symbolically unify the personalities of all participants And leads to  “The Generalized Other”

This unity is called- “The Generalized Other” Defined as- An organized and generalized attitude to which the individual defines their own conduct What is expected How the group looks at you Final separation of “I” and “Me” One becomes a socially competent self Retaining self-consciousness (Mind, Self and Society 195)

STAGES OF ROLE-TAKING Attitudes of others generalized into a single view of the self Take on the role of many significant others Act out the role of significant others Learn to interpret and rehearse (socialized) (spontaneous)

Would you be “you” if you were isolated from birth? “Genie” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEnkY2iaKis

Generalized Other is basis of Shared, Social Thought… Social Reality! “Only through the taking by individuals of the attitude or attitudes of the generalized other toward themselves is the existence of a universe of discourse, as that system of common or social meanings which thinking presupposes as its context, rendered possible” (290).

Self = Product of Social Interaction • “There are all sorts of different selves answering to all sorts of different social reactions” (286). Out of these interactions and the “selves” they produce emerge a number of social groups (290). • Taking the form of the “generalized other” is “how the community exercises control over the conduct of its individual members” (290). Social order/control maintained. • Mead pioneered study of social-psychology. • Basis for symbolic-interactionism: study of symbolic exchange in everyday life which takes the place of direct interaction.

Simmel Georg (1858-1918) Studied at the University of Berlin Popular lecturer and prolific writer Never received a full academic position despite efforts of friend Max Weber The self is shaped by the size of one’s social circles. Individuality increases as one’s social circles expand. (Because it is less likely that anyone else will have the same memberships.)

“Dualistic Drive” Narrow circles: more control over each member, and more distinct from other circles (ex. Quakers) Wider circles: Less control over each member, and less distinct from other circles (ex. college student) How does fashion represent the duality of individuality and conformity?

History of Romance • In feudal and caste societies: Small social circles • Low sense of individuality • Marriage with limited option, arranged marriages, marriage for community purposes (control of economic resources, political ties) • In modern liberal societies: Larger social cirlces • Individualism is hugely important– we see ourselves as unique people. • Concepts of romance, “soul mates,” marriage for love -- expand • Computerized dating to find “right match”

? What is the the stranger is one social type that is determined by a social circle “[The stranger] is fixed within a certain spatial circle…but his position within it is fundamentally affected by the fact that he does not belong in it initially and that he brings qualities into it that are not, and cannot, be indigenous to it.” (p. 295) remote: has same qualities we share with lots of other people near: shares some general, impersonal qualities with us the distance of the stranger allows him or her to adopt an objective attitude toward the group Can you think of some examples of strangers?

The “Stranger” • Both “near and far”: physically close, but socially distant • Both group insiders and outsiders • “Veil” of social difference created • Examples: Jewish traders in European society (Simmel); immigrants • How is “the stranger” valuable to society, according to Simmel? • Benefits of mobility, objectivity, non-stereotypical thinking, non-conformism

W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) Born and raised in Western Massachusetts, relatively low levels of segregation and discrimination Age 17 – Fisk University, shock of Southern racial order First black graduate from Harvard University 1896 – University of Pennsylvania researcher The Philadelphia Negro – 1899 – radically changed the way race was conceptualized in sociology The Souls of Black Folk – 1903 1910 – 1934: Editor of The Crisis, leader of NAACP

Du Bois in his office, editing The Crisis, 1915

In “The Souls of Black Folk,” Du Bois asks,“How does it feel to be a problem?” (323) “The Negro problem” The problem of American racism Du Bois shifts the terms of the debate…

Double Consciousness “Then it dawned upon me… that I was different from the others… shut out from their world by a vast veil… the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world– a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at oneself through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity” (324).

Prejudice as Ideological Veil “For the first time he sought to analyze the burden he bore upon his back, that dead-weight of social integration partially masked behind a half-named Negro problem. He felt his poverty; without a cent, without a home, without land, tools, or savings… To be a poor man is hard, but to be poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships. He felt the weight of his ignorance– not simply of letters, but of life, of business, of the humanities..” (326).

Connect Mead’s “social self” to Du Bois’critique of racism: The “doll test” gets updated… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybDa0gSuAcg 1940s 2006

Theories of Self & Society