Charles Horton Cooley and the Symbolic Interactionism Theory

Labelling theory has also been used to apply the interactionist theory to society; the theory, like Mead, emphasises the importance of symbols and situations in which they are used. The main interactionist concepts are the definition of the situation – if we believe in something then it could affect the way in which we behave. The looking glass –self – this was created by Cooley who argues that we see ourselves in a way in which we think others see us. These concepts have been useful in explaining why people act in certain ways in certain situations; therefore, the labelling theory is effective in the study of society.

According to dictionary.com, society is an organized group of persons associated together for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes. Both Ayn Rand and John Steinbeck write about society and its burden on individuals or the individual’s burden to it. Ayn Rand believes that society is a burden to an individual and that said individual owes nothing to society. John Steinbeck believes that the individual can be a burden to society, but that society should still be held responsible for the individual. Both authors exploit society for its wrongs but believe that society holds different responsibilities for individuals.

The practices of a collective society such as the one in this book disregard all belief in the individual. By doing this, the society and its leaders brainwash the people into having no personal priority or authority. Everything is done with the betterment of the entire group in mind, no sense of self involvement. Their life is fated in almost every

Consequently, fundamental aspects of our social experience and identities, like race and gender, can be readily understood through the symbolic interactionist lens. Because both race and gender have no biological basis whatsoever, both race and gender can be understood as social constructs that function based on what we believe to be true about people, given what they look like. We use socially constructed meanings of race and gender to help us decide who to interact with, how to do so, and to help us determine, sometimes inaccurately, the meaning of a person's words or actions. Symbolic interaction perspective is a useful

Cooley argues that our self develops through interactions and our impressions about how other people see us. Do you think that he is correct? Why or why not?

In the essay, “The Common Life” by Scott Russell Sanders, Sanders studies the connection between the individual and society. However, this leads to the question, what is the relationship between the individual and society? Individuals and societies may be in opposition but this helps to develop both the individual and society. The decisions that an individual makes reflects on how society views him/her. The overlook of the community can be reverted back to the individual within the society. Society and individuals are a package deal.

Imagine a double headed arrow. The arrow at the bottom, pointed down, is the individual. This individual is connected to something bigger, the upward arrow. This upward arrow explains the social system or “larger than us”. Johnson (1999) explains “We are always participating in something larger than ourselves…to understand social life and what happens to people in it, we have to understand what it is that we’re participating in and how we participate in it.” (39). To picture this, Johnson (1999) uses the analogy of a forest stating, “…a forest is simply a collection of individual trees… a collection of trees that exist in a particular relation to one another,” (39). He goes on to say that “…the key to understanding social life isn’t just the forest and it isn't just the trees. It’s the forest and the trees and how they're related to one another.” (Johnson 1999: 39). This is sociology and the rule that people are not systems and systems are not people (Johnson 1999).

Four principal scholars explored the symbolic interaction theory, George Herbert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley, William Isaac Thomas, and Herbert Blumer (Smith & Hamon, 2012). George Herbert Mead proposed that through interaction with others, we learn about ourselves—this is done through three stages; play stage, game stage, and generalized other (Smith & Hamon, 2012). He identifies the movement between “I” and “me.” “I” being the spontaneous, immediate reactions to a situation, “me” being the roles learned from prior experiences (Smith & Hamon, 2012). Charles Horton Cooley had the idea of the “looking-glass self”—which explains individuals consider how they appear to others in order to create their own concept of themselves (Smith & Hamon, 2012). The third scholar, William Isaac Thomas, was known for the definition of the situation, which led to the idea that understanding perspective of the people involved in the situation was necessary to understand human behavior in general (Smith & Hamon, 2012). The Thomas Theorem stated

Looking-glass self was a concept that was applied. Looking glass self is how people describe who they are by how others describe them. According to C.H. Cooley, have to envision themselves through social interactions because the mind does not create the “self” (Ravelli & Webber, 2013: pg. 153). An Aboriginal said that when she was younger and first went to the school, the teacher checked attendance and when she said her name, she answered “here” in her language and the nun gave

Human beings are individuals. Individuals with their own bodies, facilities and inalienable rights who live in a society. Society by definition is a body of individuals living as members of a community (Dictionary). Therefore logic will lead you to understand that individuals are the basic building block from which all societies are formed and without individuals, society would cease to exist. This provides a clear answer to the decades-old question, which is more important the individual, individualism, or society, collectivism. If individuals make up society how is it possible for society to be more important than the individual?

Individuality is not tolerated by the society because it represents inequality, which the society does not wish to be associated with. “We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives.” (Rand 21). Throughout the novel, the reader starts to realize how their society is kept equal through most of the dialogue and feelings towards the other men. Another example of equality shown in the novel is that all of the people in the society are expected to follow the rules and have a part in the same activities as one another. “We are one in all and all in one… only the great WE…” (Rand 19). Here the reader starts to understand that their nation accepts the purpose of their society which is to exhibit equality by treating everyone equal to the other members. “… there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone.” (Rand 17). Readers evaluate how the members of the society treat each other equal by acknowledging the transgression of individuality. Their society believes that individualism is dangerous to their community which results with everything in their life being based on plurals. For example, everyone in their society is meant to address themselves with the pronoun “we” instead of “I” because the pronoun “I” represent individuality. Everyone in this society is meant to be treated as equals and they are currently keeping that rule in

A wonder example of this is when Equality for the novel Anthem differentiates himself from his society in order to truly find himself. This can be seen on page seventeen of the novel when he writes, “The laws say that none among men may be alone, ever and at any time, for this is the great transgression and the root of all evil” (Rand, 17). Equality takes himself out of the norm of the society and by doing so creates his own unique identity. Another example can be seen in Mario Della Grotta. Mario, a thirty six year old decides to get neural implants to cure his depression (OCD) and that can be abnormal to the rest of society. The article explain how people can be weary about the situation. It says, “Meanwhile, the CIA...and Michael Crichton’s The terminal man,in which the main character receives implants to control his epilepsy and turns psychotic, became a bestseller.” Mario knew that he would be a “freak” then society would look down on him, yet he decided to go through with the surgery. He went against the norms of society in order to find his true identity. Even the novel, The meme machines “strange creatures” agrees with this. It states in the article, “We copy each other all the time”. (2, Blackmore). In order to be an individual, the person must differentiate himself from the rest of

Cooley’s concept of the “looking glass self” states that a persons identity or self worth comes directly from their social interactions. That our self image is a direct correlation as to the responses and evaluations from others in our society. There are 3 steps:

The theory being tested in the article is called symbolic interactionist, where role identities are definitions of the self in terms of the social roles that one holds. The roles being discussed are positions in social structure such as behavioral expectations, including reciprocal rights. “According to theory, individuals obtain classifications of themselves as social objects and evaluations of themselves as worthy and competent social actors through taking the role of the other and accepting others categorizations and appraisals of them as self-descriptive”(p. 361).

Society may be defined as a group of people living in agreement, having the same moralistic and judicial rules and standards. To live in a society, one must accept these standards and adopt them as their own. For example, living in the United States indicates that you respect the life, liberty and property of each individual, and you decide to accept the punishment if you violate any of these natural rights. Although one may not always agree with these standards, they choose to make sacrifices for the well-being of others. Society is responsible for creating an image of the ideal person, family, environment, and way of life. Our modern day society has dictated its own definition of beauty, happiness, and success. It seems society has accidentally tied these three together, and since these definitions are not universal, different societies may assign different meanings to each concept. Unlike societies explain why there are so many contrasting beliefs and viewpoints throughout the world today. The growth and morals of society are exclusively dependent on those who choose to be a part of something greater than them. Societies tend to grow only when people come to an understanding to be involved. Society is an accumulation of majority rule and the goals of the majority.