Chapter1: Introduction: Sociological Theory

William James's Analysis of "Self"

The Harvard psychologist William James (1842-1910) was perhaps the first social scientist to develop a clear concept of self James recognized that humans have the capacity to view themselves as objects and to develop self-feelings and attitudes toward themselves. Just as humans can (a) denote symbolically other people and aspects of the world around them, (b) develop attitudes and feelings toward these objects, and (c) construct typical responses toward objects, so they can denote themselves, develop self feelings and attitudes, and construct responses toward themselves. James called these capacities se/f and recognized their importance ha shaping the way people respond in the world.

James developed a typology of selves: the "material self;' which includes those physical objects that humans view as part of their being and as crucial to their identity; the "social self," which involves the self-feelings that individuals derive from associations with other people; and the "spiritual self," which embraces the general cognitive style and capacities typifying an individual, This typology was never adopted by subsequent interactionists, hut James' notion of the social self became a part of all interactionists' formulations.

James's concept of the social self recognized that people's feelings about themselves arise flora interaction with other. As he noted, "a man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him" Yet, James did not carry this initial insight very far. He was, after all, a psychologist who was more concerned with internal psychological functioning of Individuals than with the social processes from which the capacities of individuals arise.

Charles Horton Cooley's Analysis of Self

Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929) offered two significant extensions in the analysis of self. First, he refined the concept, viewing self as the process in which individuals see themselves as objects, along with other objects, in their social environment. Second, he recognized that self emerges from communication with others. As individuals interact ~with each other, they interpret each other's gestures and thereby see themselves from the viewpoint of others. They imagine how others evaluate them, and they derive images of themselves or self-feelings and attitudes. Cooley termed this process the looking glass self: The gestures of others sere as mirrors in which people see and evaluate themselves, just as they see and evaluate other objects in their social environment.

Cooley also recognized that self arises from interaction in group contexts. He developed the concept of "primary group" to emphasize that participation in front of the looking glass in some groups is more important in the genesis and maintenance of self than participation in other groups. Those small groups in which personal and intimate ties exist are the most important in shaping people's self-feelings and attitudes.

Cooley thus refined and narrowed James's notion of self and forced the recogniition that it arises from symbolic communication with others in group contexts. These insights profoundly influenced Mead.

John Dewey's Pragmatism

John Dewey (t859-1952) was, for a brief period, a colleague of Cooley's at the University of Michigan. But more important was Dewey's enduring association with Mead, whom he brought to the University of Chicago. As the chief exponent of a school of thought known as pragmatism, Dewey stressed the process of human adjustment to the world, in which humans constantly seek to master the conditions of their environment. Thus, the unique characteristics of humans arise from the process of adjusting to their life conditions.

What is unique to humans, Dewey argued, is their capacity for thinking. Mind is not a structure but a process that emerges from humans' efforts to adjust to their environment, Mind for Dewey is the process of denoting objects in the environment, ascertaining potential lines of conduct, imagining the consequences of pursuing each line, inhibiting "inappropriate responses, and, then, selecting a line of conduct that will facilitate adjustment. Mind is thus the process of thinking, which involves deliberation:

Deliberation is a dramatic rehearsal (in imagination) of various competing possible fines of action … Deliberation is an experiment in finding out what the various lines of possible action are really like. It is an experiment in making various combinations of selected elements.., to see what the resultant action would be like if it were entered upon.

Dewey's conception of mind as a process of adjustment, rather than as a thing or entity, was critical in shaping Mead's thoughts. Much as Cooley had done for the concept of self, Dewey demonstrated that mind emerges and is sustained through interactions in the social world.

Mead's Thought on Pragmatism,Darwinism, and Behaviorism

At the time that Mead began to formulate Iris synthesis, the convergence of several intellectual traditions was crucial because it appears to have influenced the direction of his thought. Mead considered himself a behaviorist, but not of the mechanical stimulus/response type. Many of Iris ideas actually were intended as a refutation of such prominent behaviorists as John B. Watson. Mead accepted the basic premise of behaviorism--that is, the view that reinforcement guides and directs action. However, he used this principle in a novel way. Moreover, he rejected as untenable the methodological presumption of early behaviorism that it was inappropriate to study the internal dynamics of the human mind. James's, Cooley's, and Dewey's influence ensured that Mead would rework the principle of reinforcement in ways that allowed for the consideration of mind and self.

Another strain of thought that shaped Mead's synthesis is pragmatism, as it was acquired through exposure with Dewey. Pragmatism sees organisms as practical creatures that come to terms with the actual conditions of the world. Coupled with behaviorism, pragmatism offered a new way of viewing human life: Human beings seek to cope with their actual conditions, and they learn those behavioral patterns that provide gratification. The most important type of gratification is adjustment to social contexts.

This argument was buttressed in Mead's synthesis by yet another related intellectual tradition, Darwinism. Mead recognized that humans are organisms seeking a niche in which they can adapt. Historically, this was true of humans as an evolving species; more important, it is true of humans as they discover a niche in the social world. Mead's commitment to behaviorism and pragmatism thus allowed him to apply the basic principle of Darwinian theory to each human: That which facilitates survival or adaptation of the organism will be retained.

In this way, behaviorist, pragmatist, and Darwinian principles blended into an image of humans as attempting to adjust to the world around them and as retaining those characteristics--particularly mind and self--that enable them to adapt to their surroundings. Mind, self, and other unique features of humans evolve from efforts to survive in the social environment. They are thus capacities that arise from the processes of coping, adjusting, adapting, and achieving the ultimate gratification or reinforcement: survival. For this reason, Mead's analysis emphasizes the processes by which the infant organism acquires mind and self as an adaptation to society. But Mead did much more; he showed how society is viable only from the capacities for mind and self among individuals. From Mead's perspective, then, the capacities for mind, self, and society are intimately connected.