Charles H Cooley

Who is Charles H Cooley?

• one of the founding fathers of American sociology

• his work influenced the growth of sociology, especially SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Major works

• Human nature and the social order

• Social Progeress

The era of rapid social change followed the ___ war and the wake of the industrial revolution followed it. The American Society was characterized by rapid ___, growth of slums, mass ___, mass movement of people, the disruption of traditional ways of individuals as a result.

civil, urbanization, immigration

The american society was in the epic of __ and of the confusion and mental strain that go with such an epoch. Sociologists in Cooley’s days were actually “secularized ministers” who were who were concerned with the social __ and issues.

transition, order

The sociologists thought that sociology would contribute to human ____. Sociology would provide knowledge by which they could actually intervene in the course of change to accelerate and promote progress.

privilegesT

The social problems could be solved by the application of __ knowledge. The main concern of the sociologists was “_amelioration.” Cooley deals with it in terms of conflict, control, and population

sociological, social

Cooley argues that modernization increased the involvements and __ of the people. Their consciousness was becoming increasingly social. For cooley, the function/purpose of sociology was interpreting life and understanding human _. Cooley defined sociology as “the science of man in the group.”

interaction, nature

For cooley, society was a uniquely a __ phenomenon. “Society is a relation among personal ideas.”

mental

Individual behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, sentiments, etc. are all determine socially by behavior patterns of the __, institutions, human association, and so on. Sociologists should study these social interaction.

group

amelioration

the process of making something better or improving conditions.

The Primary Group

• cooley’s idea rooted in agricultural communities in America that was rapidly disappearing

Primary groups are primary in linking people with __ and in integrating individuals into the social fabric. They are fundamental in forming the human nature and ideals of individuals. They are “we” groups.

Society; we

Primary group characteristics

1. smallness of size

2. frequency and intensity of face to face interaction

3. strong personal identity with the group

4. strong ties of attention

5. long lasting group

The __, the play group of the children and the neighborhood are examples of primary groups which are the universal breeding grounds for the emergence of human _ and fellowship. People are bound by ties of sympathy and affection

examples, cooperation

The primary group requires the members’ devotion to the whole and to the other as a full person and it takes precedence over the maximization of self-interest. Human nature comes into existence in primary groups. The functions if primary groups are:

1. agency of socialization

2. realizes social, emotional, and psychological satisfaction (love, self worth, emotion, and psychological)

3. control (learn how to behave, if not, reap consequences)

The Looking Glass Self

• rene descartes

• Self exist first. “Je pense done je suis”

• Advocated dualism - idealism and materialism

• The cartesian tradition posited a sharp disjunction between the knowing, thinking subject and the external world

Cooley argued that __ and society are twin born; that is , society and individuals are simply _ and distributive aspects of the same thing. Society is internalized in the individual _ psyche; it becomes part of individual self.

self; collective; psyche

The objects of the world are constitutive parts of the subjects mind and the self. The self arises dialectically through

communication

A person’s self grows out of a person’s _ with others. Self has a reflective character and Cooley compared it to a __ glass. By temporarily, assuming the position of other people we may look at ourselves through others eyes.

communicating; looking

What are the three phases of the looking glass?

Perception, Interpretation/Definition, and Response

Phase 1: Perception

• We imagine how we appear to other people.

• In this phase, we imagine how other people perceive us.

• ex. appearance, memorium, character, deeds

Phase 2: Interpretation/Definition

• We imagine how others judge us, or evaluate our behavior.

• Our interpretation may not be correct

Phase 3: Response

• We experience some sort of feelings on whar we regard to be others’ judgements on us. On the basis of the first two processes, we may experience fear, sympathy, pity, anger, love, contempt, embarrassment, envy, or some other, emotional response.

These three phases occur

more or less in the back of our minds

According to cooley, society is an

interweaving and interworking of mental selves.

Society is internalized in the individuals’ __.; it becomes part of the individual self through the interaction of many individuals.

mental

Cooley considered society as a whole made up of differentiated members who__ with one another. The unit of study is the society as a whole. He was methodological holist, but he emphasized indivduals and their communications, and the organic interdependence of all part of the social whole.

interact

Cooley made a crucially important contribution to sociological method. Coole argued that the study of human must be concerned with the __ human actors attribute to the situation in which they find themselves. (verstehen)

meanings

His methods relied on the __ or sympathetic introspection, which is the understanding of another’s consciousness by the aid of your own and gives full play to the mental-social complex. (Cooley’s personality was withdrawn, retiring, and passive”

imagination

Cooley claimed that there are two kinds of knowledge:

1. one is spatial or material knowledge

2. personal or social knowledge (sympathetic or dramatic)

He defined the personal or social knowledge as developed from contact with the minds of other men, through __, which sets going a process of though and sentiment similar to theirs and enable us to understand them by sharing their states of minds.

communication

WI Thomas Theorem

• definition of the situation

• “when you define the reality as REAL, it is real in its consequences

• Humans do not simply act or react before they act, there is always a moment of deliberation and examination of the situation to which we give meaning

In order to understand people, you MUST understand __ they attach to their actions and put yourself in their shows (see from their perspective)

subject & meaning