Chapter 2: The Sociological Perspective the Self

After completing the module, the students are expected to:

1. Recognize what sociology tells about understanding the self and others.
2. Understand how culture and Self are complementary concepts.
3. Explain how the concept of the Self influence behavior, thinking and emotion.
4. Apply concepts of self in one’s life to develop self-awareness and broaden understanding.

The Sociological Perspective of the self is based on the assumption that human behavior is influenced by
society.
Sociology as a science, study social groups and human relationships which help shed new insight into the
interconnectedness between the self and other people. Hence, sociologists offer theories to explain how the self
emerges as a product of social experience.
Marcel Mauss, a French sociologist, believes that the self has two faces; the personne and moi. The Moi is
the person’s sense of who he is, his body, basic identity, biological givenness. The Personne is a social concept of
what it means to be who he is. What it means to live in a particular institution, family, religion, nationality, or how to
behave in given expectations/influences.
Charles Horton Cooley- a sociologist introduces the looking -glass self a social psychological concept created in
1902.
Looking-glass self- states that a person’s self grows out of society’s interpersonal interactions and the
perceptions of others. The term refers to people shaping their identity based on the perception of others, which
leads the people to reinforce other people’s perspectives on themselves. People shape themselves based on what
other people perceive and confirm other people’s opinion of themselves.

Three main components of the looking-glass self:

• First, we imagine how we must appear to others.
• Second, we imagine the judgment of that appearance.
• Finally, we develop our self through the judgments of others.
The Self and the Development of the Social World
George Herbert Mead, a philosopher, psychologist and sociologist, supports the view that a person develops
a sense of self through social interaction. Mead’s theory of the social self explained that the self has two divisions:
the “I” and the “Me”.
The “Me” or the social self, is what is learned in interaction with others and with the environment: other
people's attitudes, once internalized in the self, all form the Me. The “me” is how we believe the society or the
generalized other sees us. It is what we learned through interaction with others. The "Me" disciplines the "I" by holding
it back from breaking the law of the community.
While the “I” is response to the “me” and to the attitude of others. This means that the “I” is when the individual
identity and one’s unique trait is stepping in on our personal responses to what society thinks. Mead also called I as
the “novel or creative reply” as “I” constructs a reply based on what we have learned.
The full development of the self is not present at birth but develops only with social experience in which
language, gestures, and objects are used to communicate meaningfully. Since there is meaning in gestures or human
actions, a person may conclude another person’s intention which may lead him or her to understand the world from
the view of others – a process that Mead labels are role-taking in which he details the development of the self in a
three-stage process:
Role-Taking Theory
1. The Preparatory stage (birth – 3 years old) - This stage is also called as the imitation stage. In this stage, we see
children mimic/imitate those around them and this is why parents of young children do not want you to use foul language
around kids. They do not have any idea or understanding of what they are saying or doing
2. The Play stage (3 years old – 5 years old) - Children are believed to learn self-development and interaction through
pretend play in this stage. They start to view themselves in relation to others as they learn to communicate through
language and other symbols. Children also start to play more formalized games because they begin to understand the
perspective of others or the perspective of their significant others. In this stage they are focused on role taking and act
based on their perceived point of view. Here, the self is developing.
3. The Game stage (6 years old – 9 years old) – The final stage where begin to understand and adhere to the rules
of the game. This is the stage where the child realizes how his/her attitudes and viewpoints are taken into account by
the expectations of society as a whole. At this stage, children become concerned about and take into account in their
behavior the generalized others or how they are viewed. In response, children become influenced by the expectations
or perceptions of the society and they become concerned about the reactions of others by what they say or do.
However, they mainly focus on the perceptions of “significant others”. Here, the self is now present
• The Significant others are all of the people who have important relationships with the individual. Parents,
family, teachers, peers.

• The Generalized other refers to the viewpoint of the social group at large. Is loosely Sigmund Freud’s
concept, Superego which is the ethical component of the personality and provides the moral standards by
which the ego operates. The superego’s criticisms, prohibitions, and inhibitions form a person’s conscience.

The Social Development Theory

• There are 3 major themes regarding Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory: social interaction, the more
knowledgeable other, and the zone of proximal development.
• Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist, argues that social interaction comes before development;
consciousness and cognition are the end product of socialization and social behavior. He also believed that
the community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning."
 • Social Interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development. In contrast to Jean
Piaget’s understanding of child development (in which development necessarily precedes learning), Vygotsky
felt social learning precedes development. Vygotsky stated that every function in the child’s cultural
development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level: (1) Social level l
(Interpsychological) This is where social learning takes place because in this stage, they interact, connect
and reach out to other people. (2) In Individual level (Intrapsychological), after acquiring social learnings,
the functions will appear a second time and, this time, more developed and thus, leading to cognitive
development(self-reflection).

According to Vygotsky, without learning, an individual won’t function and develop fully but that does not mean
that people are born with absolutely zero abilities. He claimed that infants are born with the basic materials/abilities for
intellectual development that are called the elementary mental functions.
• Sensation - hot, cold, sweet, or bitter are delivered automatically to the brain by the senses.

• Hunger - bodily processes. An infant doesn’t need to be told that he is hungry since hunger will manifest the
fact.

• Memory - Young children commit things to memory in a natural manner. A baby will instantly recognize the
sound of his mother’s voice, or the taste of baby food BUT he won’t be able to associate or recognize any
association like the sound of the mother’s voice to those times that she sung him a lullaby to sleep, and he
isn’t likely to identify that baby food to be the one that he really likes to eat.

As social learning is being increased through more social interactions, his elementary mental functions will
evolve to higher mental functions. Compared to elementary, they are stimulated or are taught, and they are learned
in social settings or environments and they often come with social meanings
• Language - As a child develops, their need to communicate to others is increasing. As we grow older and
undergo a multitude of other social processes, language learning will also advance, as well as our thought
processes.

• Memory - Memory can be cultivated and controlled by this time and they know how to make relevant
associations and memorized stuff they think is necessary.

• Attention – Because of social learnings, the ability of focus and concentration, and the ability to figure out
what to do with whatever are learned. They are now able to decide which objects, actions or thoughts to focus
on.

• Perception – Sensing is when a child is able to recognize a sensory stimulus. Their lack of perception skills
will make them unable to interpret the meaning or significance behind it. Social interactions help the child’s
level of perception, increasing his awareness and capacity to understand why things are as they are.

The More Knowledgeable Other (MKO)

• Anyone who has a better understanding, considerably higher or superior level of ability, skill or knowledge
about a particular subject, task or process, than the person who is attempting to learn. Normally thought of as
being a teacher, coach, or older adult, but could also be peers, a younger person, and even a computer. While
learning and discovery that is self-initiated is effective, learning becomes more productive and contributory to
cognitive development when acquired from the More Knowledgeable Other.
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
• This is where the child will be given the most sensitive instruction or guidance with a lot of encouragement,
just the right amount of guidance, and then allow the child to learn and develop his skills. By letting them do
it independently, the MKO will help the child develop his higher mental functions faster.
• The learning process is a social interaction which could be done directly or indirectly (with the use of
technology), between the learner and the MKO, who can be a teacher, professor, coach, mentor, or any older
adult, or a peer or even someone younger, who happens to be more skillful, experienced, or knowledgeable
in the area, subject or discipline that is being learned.

Gerry Lanuza, Filipino sociologist, he stated that in modern societies the attainment and stability of self identity is
freely chosen. It is no longer restricted by customs and traditions.

In postmodern societies, self-identity continuously changes due to the demands of multitude of social contexts, new
information technologies, and globalization.

Jean Baudrillard, he suggests that in postmodern societies, individuals achieve self-identity through prestige symbols
that they consume.

The cultural practices of advertising and mass media greatly influence individuals to consume goods not for their
primary value and utility but to give them a feeling of goodness and power when compared with others.