Theories of the self
We are not born knowing who we are; the self develops through interaction with others.
Mead: the I and the me
George Herbert Mead argued that the self arises through social interaction. The 'I' is the spontaneous, acting part of the self; the 'me' is the part shaped by how others see us. Children develop through stages: imitation, play (taking on one role at a time, like 'teacher'), and games (understanding many roles at once and the rules connecting them).
The generalised other
Through games and social life, children learn to see themselves from the perspective of society as a whole, what Mead called the generalised other. This is how people come to understand shared expectations and rules, such as fairness in a team sport or politeness in public.
Cooley and Freud
Charles Horton Cooley's 'looking-glass self' says we form our self-image by imagining how others see and judge us. Sigmund Freud described the personality as the id (basic drives), the ego (reason), and the superego (internalised social rules). Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget added stage theories of identity and thinking that sociologists still draw on.
Flashcard
Self-image shaped by imagining how others see us
Check your understanding
A teenager decides she is funny because her friends always laugh at her jokes. This illustrates: