1. Chapter 5

2. The Self And Interaction
 Nature vs. nurture
 Socialization
 Development of Self-Freud, Cooley, Mead, Goffman
 Impression Management
 Agents of Socialization-family, schools, peers, media
 Statuses and Roles

3. The Self and Nature vs. Nurture
 The self is connected to all social phenomena and
interaction constructs them all
 What is human nature?
 Nature vs. Nurture – ongoing debate over the
importance of genes and socialization in determining
our behaviors and traits
 Sociologists argue that human behavior is learned and
shaped thru social interaction
 Either one alone is insufficient to explain what makes
us human

4. Socialization and the Self
 Socialization – process of learning & internalizing the
values, beliefs and norms of social group – helps us become
functioning members of society
 1. Skills to satisfy basic human needs
 2. Teaches norms, values, beliefs
 Social Isolation – feral children –Isabelle
 Babies do have innate capacities, but can only fully
develop as human beings through contact with others
 Isabelle-1930s
 Self – individual’s conscious, reflexive experience of
personal identity, separate and distinct from others
 Self created through social interaction over a lifetime

5. Development of Self-Freud
 Freud’s theory of self centered on unconscious mind
 The mind consists of three interrelated parts:
 Id – basic inborn drive – instinctive psychic energy – goal is
pleasure and avoid pain- selfish
 Ego – the realistic aspect of the mind that mediates
between id and superego
 Superego – the conscience (moral) and ego ideal (ideally
who we should be)-Internalized demands of society
 Develops as a result of parental guidance

6. Development of Self-Cooley
 Looking-glass self-notion that the self develops thru
our perception of others’ evaluations of us
 Dev. by Charles Horton Cooley (Chicago School)
 We all act like mirrors to each other, reflecting back
images of ourselves
 1.We imagine how we look to others
 2. We imagine other people’s judgment of us
 3. We experience some kind of feeling about ourselves
based on our perception of other people’s judgments
 All of us come to know ourselves through relationships
with others

7. Development of
Self-Mead
 George Herbert Mead (Chicago
School)-development of self started in
childhood-when kids develop
language
 Mead’s Theory of Self – 3 stages:
 1. Preparatory stage – under 3 – imitate
or mimic those around them
 2. Play stage – after 3 – “roles” pretend
play at being a “nurse”, “teacher,” etc…
 3. Game stage – early school years-
organized games at school – must
follow rules of game and understand
where others playing game are coming
from (generalized other)

8. Development of Self-Goffman
 Mead-Generalized other- perspectives and
expectations of others in society that child learns and takes
into account when shaping his or her behavior
 Erving Goffman-*all meaning is constructed through
interaction
 Thomas theorem- “if people define situations as real,
they are real in their consequences”
 Many interpretations are possible of same event
 Woman slapping man in public?

9. Goffman Defines Expression
 Goffman looks at how we define situations interactionally
 Definition of the Situation- agreement about what is “going
on” – allows us to coordinate our actions with others
 Woman slapping man?-what are others’ reactions?
 Expressions of Behavior- small actions that serve as an
interaction tool to project our definition of the situation to
others
 Expressions given – verbal and intended (speech)
 Expressions given off – non-verbal, but observable – intended
or unintended
 Facial expressions, mannerisms, etc…
 It’s not just what you say but how you say it that creates
meaning

10. What is Impression Management?
 Goffman-we work at controlling the impressions others
have of us
 Impression Management – effort to control impressions
we make on others so that they form a desired view of us
and the situation
 Dramaturgy-social life compared to theater
 Front- the setting or scene of performances that helps
define the situation (classroom)
 Personal Front – equipment we use to present ourselves
to others (glasses)
 Region – context or setting where performance takes place
– person out of context can be confusing

11. What is Impression Management?
 Backstage – rehearse and prepare for performances
 Frontstage – where we deliver our public performance
 Cooling the mark out – behavior that allows others to
avoid embarrassment
 Civility or tact

12. Agents of Socialization
 Agents of Socialization-social groups, institutions, and
individuals that provide structured situations in which
socialization takes place
 1. Family – most significant- social bonds created,
learn norms and values of society
 2. School – Besides teaching normal curriculum, also
responsible for P.E., meals, discipline, child care, etc…
 Hidden curriculum – values/behaviors that children learn at
school (competition, obedience)
 3. Peers – Family has longest-lasting effect on us, but by
adolescence, youth spend more time w/ friends than anyone else
 4. Media-Fiji (pg. 127)

13. Adult Socialization
 Being adults means being put in
new situations, having to learn
and adjust to new conditions
over the life course
 Resocialization-process of
replacing previously learned
norms and values with new ones
as part of a transition in life
 Due to divorce, raising family,
moving, losing a job, etc…
 Total Institution – (Goffman)
institutions in which individuals
are cut off from rest of society –
total control – strips away old
identities for new ones

14. Statuses and Roles
 Statuses influence how others see us and respond to us
 Status – position in society that carries a particular set of
expectations
 Parent, CEO, waitress, etc…
 Ascribed Status – inborn and hard to change
 Embodied Status – physical characteristics (ex. beauty)
 Achieved Status – earned through effort or imposed by
others (ex. occupation)
 Master Status – relevant and affects all other statuses.

15. Statuses and Roles
 Role – behavior expectations that go with a certain status
 Role Strain – contradictory expectations within ONE role
 Parent-discipline or nurture
 Role Conflict – we occupy 2 or more roles with
contradictory expectations
 Work/family conflict
 Role exit-the process of leaving a role that we will no
longer occupy
 *Statuses and roles help shape our identities by providing
guidelines for our own behavior

16. Role Conflict: Chris Spielman
 Family or Football?
 Spielman-From Ohio,
linebacker for Buffalo
Bills
 Wife diagnosed with
breast cancer, required
her to stay in Ohio for
treatment
 He would have to be on
road for football…
 What did he choose?

17. Social Construction of Emotions
 Role-Taking Emotions-like sympathy, embarrassment
and shame, require that we be able to see thing from
someone else’s point of view
 Feeling Rules – norms regarding the expression and
display of emotions – expectations about acceptable
emotions in a given social situation
 Emotion Work – manage feelings to create a publicly
observable display of emotion
 Copresence – face to face interaction in the presence of
others – has lessened with technology.