mead

Who was mead?

  • American scholar 

    • Philosopher, social psychologist

  • Never finished his dissertation

    • Still got hired at U of michigan

    • Close friends with john dewey and charles horton cooley

    • Followed dewey to chicago

  • Moved away from his religious roots in congregational church

    • Heavily influenced his activism

    • Marched for women's suffrage; volunteered in settlement house movement; supported progressive reforms

    • Close friends with Jane Addams

  • Pragmatist; one of the forefathers of symbolic interaction

Development of the self 

  • Focused on thought action and interaction

    • What distinguishes humans from other animals is that we think before we act 

  • Stimulus and impulsive, perception and manipulation, consummation

  • But believed that social processes preceded mental processes

    • Significant symbols and a language must exist for the mind to exist 

  • Thinking is a conversation we have with ourselves using language

  • The self is the ability to 


I: spontaneous self 

  • spontaneous and creative part if the self, drives action and decisions, reacts against the “me”, allows us to change society 

Me: component of the self

  • Responds to the judgements and expectations of others, makes us comfortable in society, society controls us through eh “me”

Role taking theory

  • Role taking is how we learn about societal expectations and adapt our behavior

    • Relies on reflexivity ; ability to put ourselves in others places

    • Expands Cooley's looking glass self (how we think others perceive us)

  • Develop a sense of self in relation to the social through role taking:

  • Preparatory stage: young children don't understand thoughts and actions of others; tend to mimic

  • Play stage: learn about societal functions by

  • Game state: develop understanding ability of self and society though

  • Generalized other: eventually develop ability to judge our own behavior through the lens of broader social norms and values 

“In sum, to have a self, a person must be a member of a community and be directed by the attitudes common to the community”