Sociological Perspectives

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
What is Sociology?
-a social science, studies human societies, their interactions and the processes that
preserve and change them.
Sociological Perspectives
-involves recognizing and evaluating the effects of social relationships
and social structures and forces, considering the present day in historical context and
takes for granted that society is socially constructed and thus changeable.
3 MAJOR PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIOLOGY
 Functionalist Perspective
 Conflict Perspective
 Symbolic Interaction Perspective
FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE
 examines how social structures function to meet social needs
 asks the question: “what structures exist, and are they functioning properly?”
MANIFEST
-are intended and obvious
Example:
go to college to get an education.
LATENT
-are unintended and often unrecognized.
Example:
go to college and find a wife.
CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE
• society is constantly changing in response to social inequality and conflict
Power Struggle
-Various groups are in conflict to compete for limited resources, control, or authority.
SYMBOLIC INTERACTION PERSPECTIVE

• Focus on meanings that people place on their own and one another’s
behavior
UNDERSTANDING SELF IN SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
SOCIOLOGICAL VIEWS OF SELF
a. The self as a product of modern society among others.
b. Self as Necessary Fiction
c. Post-Modern View of the Self
A. THE SELF AS A PRODUCT OF MODERN SOCIETY AMONG OTHERS

 With modernization, the self becomes a “delocalized” self
- Which is free to seek its own identity; defining religion, theological
tradition; free from customary constraints hence, deviating from the
traditional way of life.
 Clifford Geertz (1973) believes that struggle of one’s individuality is only
possible in modern-society where religion-theological traditions are
gradually replaced by rational and scientific calculations; and the intimate
personal affiliations are replaced by exceedingly impersonal associations
brought about by urbanized way of life.
Conditions of the Self in the Modern Society

 The newfound freedom threatens the very authenticity of the self (e.g.
love).
 Alienation- human beings haunted by the every images they have
created—a need to create enabling environment for “developed self”
 Objectification of the body (e.g. medical practice)
 Dehumanization of Self
 The filtering process
 Interaction: intercultural leads to a number of processes: cooperation,
competition, and conflict
 Other processes: acculturation, assimilation and amalgamation
B. SELF AS NECESSARY FICTION
 Self is nothing more than a metaphor—a representation of something
abstract; symbolic
 A true given self us not what unites these experiences, but it is the
presumed unity of these experiences that gave rise to concept of the self.
C. POST-MODERN VIEW OF THE SELF
 Self is a product of modern discourse that is historically and socially
imprisoned by what is capable by norms.
 According to N. Green, self is “digitalized” in cyberspace, a virtual version
of who you are.
The following are manifestations:
1. Information technology dislocates the self, thus, self is “digitalized” in
cyberspace.
2. Global migration produces multicultural identities.
3. Post-modern selves are “pluralized” self.
 GEORGE HERBERT MEAD

- A sociologist who is well- known for his theory of social self, which
includes the concept of “self”, “me”, and “I”.
- Works focuses on the way in which self is developed.
MEAD’S THEORY OF SOCIAL SELF is based on the perspective that self emerges
from social interactions, such as:
 Observing and interacting with others
 Responding to other’s opinions about oneself
 Internalizing external opinions and feelings about oneself
“The self is not there from birth, but it is developed over time from social
experiences and activities.”
3 Activities Develop the Self
1. Language- develops self by allowing individuals to respond to each other
through symbols, gestures, words and sounds.
2. Play- develops self by allowing individuals to take on different roles, pretend and
express expectation from others.
- develops one’s self-consciousness through roleplaying
3. Games- develops self by allowing individuals to understand and adhere to rules
of the activity. Self is developed by understanding that there are rules in which
one must abide by in order to win the game or be successful at an activity.
MEAD’S THREE STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT OF SELF
1. Preparatory Self: up 10 2 years old; children mimic those around them.
2. Play stage: 2-6 years old; children play pretends as significant other: they do
not adhere to organize rules of the game.
3. Game stage: 7 years old onward; children begin to understand adhere to
game rules; begin o consider other people’s perspectives.
Me I
Considered the socialized aspect of Considered the present and future
the individual phase of self
Represents learned behaviors, Represents individual’s identity
attitudes and expectations of others based on the response to the “Me”
and society
 CHARLES COOLEY
-known for his concept of the looking-glass self, which is a concept that a
person’s self grows out of society’s interpersonal interactions and perception of
others.
The Looking-Glass Self
- Our sense of self is influenced by others’ view of us.
- A person’s self grows out of a person’s interaction with others; the
view of ourselves come from the contemplation of personal
qualities and impressions of how others perceive us.
- At times, leads to the internalization of other’s view about us.
- There is labeling bias- our concepts and behavior tend to align with
others’ expectations.
- Internal prejudice- the experience which occurs when individuals
turn prejudice directed toward them by others onto.
Steps on the Looking-Glass Self
1. You imagine how you appear to to the person.
2. You imagine the judgement of the other person.
3. You fell some sense of pride, happiness, guilt of shame.
SELF AND COOLEY’S LOOKING-GLASS SELF
SELF
 Subject of one’s own experience of phenomena: perception, emotions, thoughts
 Definition of one’s identity, character, abilities and attitudes especially in relation
to person or things outside oneself.
SELF-CONCEPT
 A collection of beliefs about oneself
 Includes elements such as academic performance, gender roles, and racial
identity
 Embodies the answer to “Who Am I?”
SELF KNOWLEDGE
 In philosophy- referred to as knowledge of one’s beliefs and desires
 Information an individual draw upon when finding the answer to the question
“What Am I Like?”
SELF-ESTEEM
 Refers to having esteem in one’s self (satisfaction)
SOCIAL SELF
 Part of self that engages face to face in relation to others
 Can include gender, place of residence, age or any other categorization that help
characterize a person’s identity
LEON FESTINGER
- first proposed the Social Comparison Theory which suggests that people have an
innate drive to evaluate themselves. Often in comparison to others.
Social Comparison Theory
• Festinger believes that we engage in this comparison process as a way of
establishing a benchmark by which we can make accurate evaluations of
ourselves.
How does it Work?
• Involves people coming to know themselves by evaluating their own attitudes,
abilities and beliefs in comparison with others.
• In most cases, we try to compare ourselves to those in our peer group or with
whom we are similar.
2 KINDS OF SOCIAL COMPARISON
1. Upward Social Comparison
• is when we compare ourselves to those we believe are better than us
• focus on the desire to improve our current level of ability
• we might compare ourselves to someone better off and look for ways that
we can also achieve similar results.
2. Downward Social Comparison
• Is when we compare ourselves with others who are worse off than
ourselves
• Centered on making ourselves feel better of our abilities
• We might not be great at something but at least we are better off than
others we compared to.
According to Festinger, people rely on their comparisons with other people to accurately
assess their own:
1. SKILLS
2. ABILITIES
3. BELIEFS

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SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

SYMBOLIC INTERACTION PERSPECTIVE

A. THE SELF AS A PRODUCT OF MODERN SOCIETY AMONG OTHERS

Conditions of the Self in the Modern Society

 GEORGE HERBERT MEAD

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