Similarities Between Cooley And Goffman

The looking glass self theory looks at how an individual views themselves. The theorist of this theory is Horton Cooley. The looking glass self is another theory that is separated into stages. This theory is made up of three stages. The first stage id that a person imagines how they are perceived and viewed by others. The second stage of the looking glass theory is when a person imagines how they are judged by others and this is based and concluded by the first stage of the theory which is how a person imagines they are perceived by another individual. The final stage of this theory is the experiencing of a type of feeling or reaction to the staged in one and two. Gbadebo.S.A, (2011), pp124. For example a person may believe that they are perceived as being polite and friendly to another individual. This would be the first stage of the theory (imaging how they are perceived by others).

  1.  Discovering the Self – How do we perceive ourselves and our interactions with others?

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?

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.

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

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:

Korgen tells us “The nature of our interactions with others determines how we see ourselves and our role in society. In turn, our actions are conditioned, though not determined, by the social situations in which we find ourselves “(Chp. 1.3, 2012).

‘In a very large and interesting class of cases the social reference takes the form of a somewhat definite imagination of how one's self--that is any idea he appropriates--appears in a particular mind, and the kind of self-feeling one has is determined by the attitude toward this attributed to that other mind. A social self of this sort might be called the reflected or looking glass self: " Each to each a

George Herbert Mead and Erving Goffman are two theorists in the study of sociology that have impacted the way we see sociology today. Their works, when closely examined, actually share some extreme similarities. Both of these men seemed very interested in the perception of self in the eyes of others as well as yourself. “Mind, Self, and Society” is an article written by Mead which was placed in the book entitled “Social Theory: The Classic Tradition to Post-Modernism” which was edited by Farganis with the copyright of McGraw-Hill in 2004. This primarily deals with the development of one’s self, or their identity. “Presentation of Self in Everyday Life” is an article written by Goffman which was arranged to be in the book “Inner Lives and

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 concept of the ‘self’ is regarded as an “entity which persists through time and change” (Grayling, pg. 540), in spite of other variations, albeit unnecessary ones, that occur in a person. Ones self is alleged to be the backbone of “thinking, perceiving, memory, and the like – the ultimate ‘bearers’ of our psychological properties.” (Grayling, pg. 540) The idea of ‘self’ is a topic of important philosophical debate, and one which Kant and Hume dexterously engage themselves in. This essay will begin by outlining Hume’s philosophical approach and his theory of self. Following that Kant’s theory of self will be looked at.

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

Charles Horton Cooley, a symbolic interactionist, concluded that our sense of “self” develops from interactions with others. Cooley described this process as the

In effect, children “see” themselves when they interact with other people, as if they are looking in a mirror. Individuals use the perceptions that others have of them to develop judgments and feelings about themselves.

     The looking-glass self happens when our self develops by internalizing others reactions from what we say or others say. A good example of this is when everyone is on the train riding to Hogwarts. Harry was talking to one of his friends and was talking about Voldermont. Every time he said that name, his friend told him that he shouldn’t use that name and just say you know who. Harry learned this fast because every time he’d say it, his friend would either tell him or get a scared look on his face.