UNDERSTANDING THE SELF SLSU- BONTOC CAMPUS

Lesson 1-B
B. Sociological Perspective

Sociology is the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences
of human behavior. Sociologists investigate the structure of groups, organizations, and societies
and how people interact within these contexts. Since all human behavior is social, the subject
matter of sociology ranges from the intimate family to the hostile mob; from organized crime to
religious traditions; from the divisions of race, gender and social class to the shared beliefs of a
common culture. (21st Century Careers with an Undergraduate Degree in Sociology, 2014)

What is SOCIOLOGY?

A dictionary defines sociology as the systematic study of society and social interaction.
The word “sociology” is derived from the Latin word socius (companion) and the Greek word
logos (speech or reason), which together mean “reasoned speech about companionship”.

A society is a group of people whose members interact, reside in a definable area, and
share a culture. A culture includes the group’s shared practices, values, beliefs, norms and
artifacts. Culture encompasses a group’s way of life, from routine, everyday interactions to the
most important parts of group members’ lives. It includes everything produced by a society,
including all the social rules.

Self in Sociology

The self has meaning only within the social context, and it is not wrong to say that the
social situation defines our self-concept and our self-esteem. We rely on others to provide a
“social reality”-to help us determine what to think, feel, and do. Social self is a part of self that
engages face to face, in relation to others "The self is not present at birth, rather, it develops
while growing through social experiences”.

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Sociological Theories of the Self

A. The Looking Glass Self by Charles Cooley

The concept of the looking-glass self-states that part of how

we see ourselves comes from our perception of how others
see us. We might feel that we have a great sense of humor,
for example, because others have told us, and often laugh
(apparently sincerely) at our jokes. Many studies have
supported a basic prediction derived from the notion of the
looking-glass self, namely that our self-concepts are often
quite similar to the views that others have of us. This may be
particularly so with people from our own families and culture.

Using the view of others, Cooley denotes that understanding of self is socially
constructed. Through social interaction, one’s sense of self is mirrored from the judgments they
receive from others to measure their own worth, values, and behavior. This process involves the
following steps:

1. An individual in a social situation imagines how they appear to others.

2. That individual imagines others’ judgment of that appearance.
3. The individual develops feelings (of pride or shame) and responds to those perceived
judgments.

Sometimes, the influence of other people’s appraisals of

ourselves on our self-concept may be so strong that we end
up internalizing them. For example, we are often labeled in
particular ways by others, perhaps informally in terms of
our ethnic background, or more formally in terms of a
physical or psychological diagnosis.

The labeling bias occurs when we are labeled, and

others’ views and expectations of us are affected by that
labeling. For example, if a teacher knows that a child has
been diagnosed with a particular psychological disorder,
that teacher may have different expectations and
explanations of the child’s behavior than he or she would if
not aware of that label. Where things get really interesting
for our present discussion is when those expectations start
to become self-fulfilling prophecies, and our self-concept and even our behavior start to align
with them. For example, when children are labeled in special education contexts, these labels
can then impact their self-esteem.

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If we are repeatedly labeled and evaluated by others, then self-labeling may occur, which
happens when we adopt others’ labels explicitly into our self-concept. The effects of this self-
labeling on our self-esteem appear to depend very much on the nature of the labels. Labels used
in relation to diagnosis of psychological disorders can be detrimental to people whom then
internalize them. For example, Moses (2009) found that adolescents who self-labeled according
to diagnoses they had received were found to have higher levels of self-stigma in their self-
concepts compared with those who described their challenges in non-pathological terms. In
these types of situation, those who self-label may come to experience internalized prejudice,
which occurs when individuals turn prejudice directed toward them by others onto
themselves. Internalized prejudice has been found to predict more negative self-concept and
poorer psychological adjustment in members of various groups.

The Role of Social Media

The rise of social media makes the process of the looking-glass self infinitely more
complex. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and the like make it possible to connect with others
in ways never before imagined. However, this exposure has led to an ever-increasing number of
“mirrors,” thus proposing new questions about the development of self.

Social media has brought with it the concept of the “cyber” self. The cyber self is the
version of him or herself a person chooses to present on a digital platform. As in real life, the
cyber self may interact with other individuals, receive social feedback, and align to social
conformities. However, the differences between the cyber self and actual self are profound.

B. Theory of the Self-Development by George Herbert Mead

Similar to Charles's Cooley’s theory of self, George Herbert Mead also gave emphasis to
other’s perspective in view of one’s self. As a prerequisite of being able to understand the self,
one has to develop self-awareness. This can be derived from looking at ourselves from the
perspective of others. For instance, we put ourselves into someone else’s shoes and look at the
world through that someone’s perspective. This process is only made possible by social
interaction. If social interaction is absent particularly in one’s early experiences, he/she will find
difficulty in developing an ability to see him/herself as others would see him/her. According to
Mead, the “self” in such case is not being developed.

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By stages, Mead states that self develops through social interaction.

1. Preparatory Stage: Children in this stage are only capable of imitating actions of
others (i.e. people they particularly in contact with such as their family members).
They have no ability to imagine yet how others see things.

2. Play Stage: At this stage, children begin to try to take on the role of other person by
acting out grown up behaviors, dressing like adults, etc.

3. Game Stage: While children learn about several roles of others, they understand
how these roles interact with each other in this stage. They learn to understand
complex interactions involving different people with variety of purpose. In a
restaurant for instance, a child understands different responsibilities of people who
work together for a smooth sailing experience. He/she understands that
someone from the restaurant takes orders, others wash dishes, cook the food,
etc.).

4. Generalized other: In this stage, children develop, understand and learn the idea of
the common behavioral expectations of the general society. They are able to imagine
how they are viewed by one or many. Mead pointed out that “self” in this stage is
being developed.

The Self and Culture

The self should not be seen as a static entity which remains constant through time. It
persistently struggles with its external reality and is malleable in dealing with it. Being active
participant in its social world, the self, through interaction, is made and remade. As it
continuously interacts with others, society is continually changing and dynamic, so thus self. Self
being endlessly exposed to its social world and is subjected to its influences here and there. While
the social world is changing and dynamic, being the same person across time and space therefore
is illogical. In this perspective, self is considered as multi-faceted.

The Concept of Culture

Before going any further, it may be important to note that common people often misuse
the concept of culture. Some misconceptions about the term culture include:

1. Many people in the western world use the term culture in the sense that some people are
more "cultured" than others. This basically emanates from the idea associated with the root word
of the term culture, “kulture” in German, which refers to “civilization". Thus, when one is said to

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be “cultured”, he or she is said to be civilized. For sociologists and anthropologists, "culture

includes much more than refinement, taste, sophistication, education and appreciation of the
fine arts. Not only college graduates but also all people are ‘cultured’” Kottak (2002: 272).

2. A second commonly used misconception is that which equates “culture" with things which are
colorful, customs, cloths, foods, dancing, music, etc. As Kottak (op. cit p.525) argues, “… many
[people] have come to think of culture in terms of colorful customs, music, dancing and
adornments clothing, jewelry and hairstyles…. Taken to an extreme, such images portray culture
as recreational and ultimately unserious rather than something that ordinary people live
everyday of their lives not just when they have festivals” (Ibid. P. 525).

The concept of culture is one of the most widely used notions in sociology. It refers to the
whole ways of life of the members of a society. It includes what they dress, their marriage
customs and family life, art, and patterns of work, religious ceremonies, leisure pursuits, and so
forth. It also includes the material goods they produce: bows and arrows, plows, factories and
machines, computers, books, buildings, airplanes, etc (Calhoun, et al, 1994; Hensiln and Nelson,
1995).

The Moi and Personne Self

Marcel Mauss and his contemporaries claimed that society is a result of a process
whereby actions of humans is built upon everyday social continuity. As an Anthropologist and
Sociologist, he asserted that self-adapts to its everyday social condition. In particular, the
behavior of human groups and the way they perceive themselves in daily life are influenced by
their environmental and seasonal variations. Everyday life is an endless process of actions and
exchanges between and among humans to sustain their existence and meet their needs. Cultural
identity therefore is intertwined with space and time (Airton José Cavenaghi, 2016) making
one’s self determined according to its circumstances and context.

As a result of this notion, Marcel Mauss asserted that every self has two faces--the
personne and moi. MOI refers to a person’s sense of who he is, his body and his basic identity,
his biological givennes. It is a person’s basic identity. PERSONNE on the other hand, is composed
of the social concepts of what it means, to be who he is. It has much to do with what it means to
live in a particular institution, a particular family, a particular religion, a particular nationality, and
how to behave given expectations and influences from others. Personne therefore shifts from
time to time to adapt to his social situation (Alata, EJ et. al., 2018).

Various personne can be illustrated across culture. In the Philippines, part of the Filipino
personne-of who they are-- is their territory. This includes considering their immediate
surroundings as part of them, thus the perennial “tapat ko, linis ko”.

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The “I” and the “Me” Self

As an offshoot of his theory previously presented, George Herbert Mead characterized

the self as “I” and “Me”. Based on the theory, an individual import from the social process. As
an individual organism, he/she may display gestures on his/her own but takes collective attitude
of others and reacts accordingly to their organized attitudes while in constant interaction with
them.

The process according to Mead involves the creation of the two facets of self. The “me”
is the social self and the “I” is the response to the “me”. Both arising from the social process, the
“I” is the one responding to the attitudes of the others while “me” is the result of the “I” assuming
the organized set of attitudes of the others (it is the result of the individual’s accumulated
understanding of the generalized other). The “I” learns about the “me”, hence, it is the knower,
while the “me” is the known. Ultimately, self is developed through language and role-play where
the child learns to delineate his/her “I” from the rest.

Lev Vygotsky

Together with George Herbert Mead, Lev Vygotsky stressed the important role of
language acquisition and interaction with others in human development. According to them,
mind is made or constituted through language that one acquires or experiences with his/her
external world. This process is mediated by one’s internal dialogue with his/her own head.
Through it, he/she learns to internalize values, norms, practices, social beliefs, etc., Consistent
exposure to internal dialogues will eventually become part of one’s individual world. For Mead,
role-playing of children indicates that they create scripts in their head, thus a manifestation of
internal dialogue within self. For Vygotsky, a child internalizes real life dialogues that he/she had
with others by recycling this during one of their mental and practical problem solving (Alata, et.
al, 2018).

Self in Families

Every human is born helpless or dependent from the external world. The first group that
one interacts with and depend for the fulfilment of his/her needs is the family. As the basic social
institution, the family is the primary provider or source of a child’s needs (human, social,
economic). It is also the main avenue for teaching young individuals the basic things that they
need to learn in order to fit in the society. It has also the capacity to develop or encourage the
actualization of one’s potentials. These are all made possible by way of socialization whereby one
learns basic ways of living, language, values, etc. by way of imitating or observation or teaching
by an adult member of the family such as the mother and the father.

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A child learns ways of living, his/her selfhood, by being with the family. Learning self in
the family is conscious or unconscious. If reared with respectful family, then he/she becomes
respectful. If raised with a conversational family, then he/she becomes conversational. Ways of
living that are explicitly taught are those that are basic for the child to learn such as table
manners, speaking with an elder, etc. Through rewards and punishments, some behaviors and
attitudes are indirectly taught to a child. For example, talking about sexual behavior or how to
comfort emotions are internalized by a child through interpreting intonation of voice by adults
or of their model in the family. Clearly, these point out that becoming an adult who does not
learn about basic matters such as manners or conduct indicates failure of the family to initiate
him/her into the world. In this sense, the initial conception of selfhood for social survival and
becoming a human person is learned in the family.

Another important aspect of social process within the family is the learning of gender by
a child. Gender partly determines how one sees him/herself in the world. Though gender is
considered as one aspect of the self that is subject to alteration, change and development, it is
noteworthy that its concept is primarily acquired in the family.

In a relatively conservative cultures such as the Philippines for instance, husbands for the
most part are expected to provide for the family. Exposed to this kind of system, the sons in the
family internalize an inkling to being a future provider to behave and think like a man. Female
members of the family who are mostly exposed to their mother’s roles tend to imitate the same
mentality of women as care providers in the family according to Nancy Chodorow, a Feminist
(cited in Alata, et. al, 2018). Providing dolls instead of guns to girls also reinforces the notion of
what roles they should take, thus, the kind of self-concept they should develop.

The Impact of Media on Teens

Media has really expanded these days. Now it’s available in the form of films, TV, video
games, social networking platforms, radio, etc. They all play a huge role in shaping up your teens.
If the latter see violence all over the news against people of one race, then they might grow
sympathetic towards them, or spiteful towards the oppressors. However, if the same news
channels start to show those same victims as the bad people, then they will most likely develop
a strong hatred for every individual in that race. That’s how racism has managed to stay around
for so long. There’s a feeling of superiority in some societies and it’s generated solely by the
media. Teens form their opinions based on what they see on the media, and their behavior is
guided by these opinions.

The Effect of Crime in Society on Teens

The rate of crime and how law enforcement reacts to it also play an important role in
affecting the behavior and mindset of teens. If kids find crime to be prevalent around them, then

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they may accept it as something normal, and might even indulge in it eventually. However, things
can be entirely different if the situation of law enforcement is better in the neighborhood. If teens
see criminals getting punished for their crimes, then they will know that walking down the wrong
path has its consequences, and thus refrain from making a similar choice. Both of these scenarios
are triggered by society.

The Influence of School and Peers on Teens

Schools also play a huge role in shaping up the mindset and character of teens. They meet
all sorts of people there, and in many cases it’s their friendships that determine how they turn
out. Good, caring, and civil friends will improve the overall behavior of the kids, whereas bad
company can ruin them. They can get addicted to drugs, alcohol, and even get involved in petty
crimes.

Just because society plays a huge role in shaping up the behavior, mindset, and character
of teens don’t mean that parents simply sit idle. Parents have responsibilities to nurture the
positive effect of society, while discourage any negative impact. At the end of the day, what kind
of person the teen grows up to be depends just as much parenting as it does on the society.

Synthesis:

Developing Yourself

1. Try to assess yourself and check if it is the same with how others assess you. Go to someone that
really knows you and is not hesitant to give an honest evaluation about you.

Self- Assessment Others Assessment

2. How is self- labeling may affect your self-perception and self-esteem? Why?
3. Fill up the following.

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As a Student As a daughter/son As a friend As a Woman/Man

Evaluation:

Short quiz (will be forwarded to you after this lesson)

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