Download George Herbert Mead (1863-1931): The self emerges from social

George Herbert Mead (1863-1931):
I.
The self emerges from social experience.
II.
Social experience involves communication
and the exchange of symbols.
III. To understand intention, you must imagine
the situation from another person’s point
of view.
I ulike situasjoner samhandler vi ut fra
ulike sider av oss selv: ”the structure of the
complete self is thus a reflection of the
complete social process” (:144)
Charles Horton Cooley:
The looking-glass self: The image people have
of themselves is based on how they believe others
perceive them (1902).
George Herbert Mead:
“The individual experiences himself as such, not
directly, but only indirectly, from the particular
standpoints of other individual members of the
same social group, or from the generalized
standpoint of the social group as a whole to
which he belongs.” (Mind, Self and Society)
Our capacity to see ourselves through others
implies that the self has two components:
The self is subject; the I.
The self is object; the Me.
I and Me work closely together in a co-operative
process (not like Freud’s id, ego and super-ego).
“The self has the characteristic that it is an object
to itself, and that characteristic distinguishes it
from other objects and from the body” (:136)
“We do inevitably tend at a certain level of
sophistication to organize all experience into that
of a self….Similarly, we normally organize our
memories upon the string of our self” (:135)
The self is essentially a social structure, and it
arises in social experience. After a self has arisen,
it in a certain sense provides for itself its social
experience” (:140)
“The importance of what we term
‘communication’ lies in the fact that it provides a
form of behaviour in which the organism or the
individual may become an object to
himself….communication in the sense of
significant symbols, communication which is
directed not only to others but also to the
individual himself” (:139)
Development of the self:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Imitation
Play
Complex games
Generalized other
Fra spedbarnets imitasjon, til barnets lek,
til barnets spill, til sosial samhandling:
Lærer å ta den konkrete Andres perspektiv,
å ta mange Andres perspektiv, å ta den
generaliserte Andres perspektiv.