Shahid Ali 06 (M.Phil Sociology Replica)

Charles Horton Cooley.(1864-1929)

CHARLES HORTON COOLEYAMERICAN (1864-1929)

Symbolic Interactionist Theorist. We develop a sense of who we are in society based upon interaction with others and how we feel other perceive us. The “Looking Glass Self”.

Born: 17 August 1864

Main interests: Politics, economics, psychology,

sociology, social psychologyDied:

7 May 1929 (aged 65)Ann Arbor, Michigan

Charles Horton Cooley was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on August 17, 1864, to Mary Elizabeth Horton and Thomas M. Cooley. His father was very successful in the legal field, and with a high social status he was well respected in the community. Thomas Cooley was the Supreme Court Judge for the state of Michigan and was one of the first three faculty members to start the University of Michigan Law School and was later appointed the dean at the law school from 1859-1884.

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Charles Horton Cooley was an American sociologist. He studied and went on to teach economics and sociology at the University of Michigan, and he was a founding member and the eighth president of the American Sociological Association. He is perhaps best known for his concept of the looking glass self, which is the concept that a person's self grows out of society's interpersonal interactions and the perceptions of others.

CHARLES HORTON COOLEY:

Social Psychologist(1864-1929)

Looking Glass Self Primary Groups Secondary Groups Social Structure

COOLEY’S PERSPECTIVE

Social Psychologist. Charles Cooley’s work is based on a social-psychological view of the world. Cooley recognized the individual potential to both adjust and control life. Compare to earlier sociological perspectives, Cooley emphasized the importance of the growth of rationality, or growth of symbolic interaction. Cooley focused on qualitative data in order to recognize the implications of social relationships and behavior.

THE LOOKING GLASS SELF Cooley discusses in his book, Human Nature and the

Social Order, the concept of “I.” The feeling of self, Cooley argues, is socially constructed, and other determines his concept of “the looking glass self.” Cooley discusses how throughout life, people attempt to develop a sense of “I,” and this sense of the “I” is developed through the communication with other individuals. Cooley suggests that the “I” cannot exist without the “You,” and the “He” cannot exist without the “They.”

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People, Cooley discusses, are actors in society. The interactions between these actors and the people who are in the actors’ “Primary Groups” ultimately develop a sense of self for the actor. In order to create this sense of self, actor study and monitor the responses the actor receives to different behaviors and choose to act in a certain way in response to these reactions.

Cont…..Cooley breaks down the concept of the looking-glass self into three concepts. First, the person imagines how he or she appears to those around him or her. The self is focused not on what we perceive ourselves to look like, but rather what other think of us. We need to imagine how others perceive us because it is not enough to imagine ourselves. There must be a need to be in other people’s shoes in order to look at ourselves from their perspective.

Second, the person determines how they perceive others have judged their appearance. Then we seek to how they feel about us. Do they like me or not? Do I look okay to them? Am I acting appropriately?

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Finally, the person cultivates feelings about himself or herself by the way they have perceived people judge them-the responses either shame or pride. Others, then, become the “looking glasses” that people see themselves reflected

PRIMARY GROUPS:Cooley emphasized the importance of primary group in the development of the individual. Cooley suggests that the more a group associates with one another (time), the more the group comes together (frequency), and the more the group reveals to one another (intimacy), the more the group is to become a primary group.

Primary group, according to Cooley, were “characterized by those face-to-face association and cooperation”. The interaction the individual has with primary group ultimately help shape the person’s “social nature” and an individual’s ideals. An individual’s intimate association with a primary group combines many individualities in a “common whole.”

SECONDARY GROUPS:Cooley suggests that time, frequency of contact and intimacy, determine the type of group. The less time the group spends together, the less contact and the less interaction, the more they become a secondary group. In other words, “a secondary group is one where the relationship between more professional, distant, cool and contractual. Example of secondary group can be found in the workplace, classroom and other professional settings.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE:Cooley was one of the earliest sociologists to attempt to define an institution. An institution, according to cooley, “is simply a definite and established phase of the public mind. Cooley further explains how institutions are formed from the “nature of public opinion” through various customs and symbols in order for the institution to have an “independent existence.” Cooley discusses how institutions are formed by human thoughts and are created to help the “needs of human nature.” Institutions are a mindset and action within each individual. However, because individuals from many values and beliefs within groups, members of a group are usually unaware of it.

Cooley's methodology:

Cooley is noted for his displeasure at the divisions within the sociological community over methodology. He preferred an empirical, observational approach. While he appreciated the use of statistics, he preferred case studies: often using his own children as the subjects on his observation.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION:

Cooley formulated the crucial role of primary groups (family, play groups and community of elders) as the source of one's morals, sentiments, and ideals. Primary groups are the first group of individuals one is introduced to and are also influenced in their ideas and beliefs. They are the result of intimate association and corporation.

CONT... "Social Organization" Cooley asks what

makes up a society. He focuses on the relationship between the individual to the larger unity of the society. He viewed society and the individual as one since they cannot exist without one another. Where the society has a strong impact on the individual behaviour and vice versa.

CONT...Social process: Cooley's last major work, Social

Process (1918) emphasized the non-rational, tentative nature of social organization and the significance of social competition. Social Process was more of an essay based work that expressed Cooley's social theories. It was more philosophical than sociological. He interpreted modern difficulties as the clash of primary group values (love, ambition, loyalty) and institutional values impersonal ideologies such as progress or Protestantism.

CONT... As societies try to cope with their

difficulties, they adjust these two kinds of values to one another as best they can. Cooley also mentions the idea of heroes and hero worshiping. He believed that heroes were an aide or a servant to the internalization of social norms because they represent and serve as an example to reinforce social values.