Page 24 - Flipbook: Sociology Shortcuts Issue 3
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the “i” and the “me”
Just as basic human skills have to be taught These ideas can be illustrated in the following
and learnt, the Symbolic Interactionist George way.
Herbert Mead (1934) argued the same was true
of more-advanced social skills - an idea he If you accidentally put your hand in a fire, the
explored by noting that how we behave is "I" aspect of the Self is expressed by how you
conditioned by the social context in which react to the pain.
behaviour occurs.
The "Me" aspect, however, specifically
Mead argued self-awareness - the ability to conditions how you choose to express that
"see ourselves" as others see us and react pain; this will be conditioned by things like:
accordingly - is learnt and it is the ability to
develop a concept of self that makes humans � who you are - whether you are male or
different to animals. female, adult or child and so forth.
For Mead "The Self" (an awareness of who we � where you are - alone at home or in a public
are) has two related aspects: place.
� An "I" aspect based around your opinion of � who you are with - such as family, friends or
yourself as a whole. You respond to the strangers.
behaviour of others as an “I” and Mead called
this “the unsocialised self". If you are a young child, for example, your
reaction to being burnt may be to cry.
� A "Me" aspect that consists of an awareness
of how other people expect us to behave in any If you are a young man, you may feel crying is
given situation - something he called “the not a socially-acceptable reaction - so you may
socialised self" swear loudly instead. Swearing loudly may be
acceptable if you are at home by yourself, but
may not be acceptable if you are
fixing a stranger’s fire as part of your
job.
Similarly, if you had been messing
around with friends when you burnt
your hand, their reaction to your
accident may be to laugh and make
fun of your pain.
Laughter would not be an
appropriate reaction if it was your
child that had burnt their hand.
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