Contribute to Discussion Forum 12

Discussion Questions

(1) Apply Cooley’s notion of the looking -glass self to your experience. In what ways do you think introspective sympathy has shaped your sense of self? In other words, in what ways can you see your self-concept as a reflection of others’ beliefs and judgments about you?

(2) How might one use Mead’s notion of the three-dimensional self (I, me, generalized other) to explain social stability and change? In answering this question, try to use examples from your experience. For example, think of any social relationships you have had that had periods of stability and change. What roles might your “I,” “me,” and “generalized other” played in producing the stability and/or change?

(3) One criticism sometimes leveled at symbolic interactionism is that while it is good for explaining things at the micro-social level, it is not very good at explaining things at a macro level. Using the logic of philosophical pragmatism, how might one rebut such a criticism? Hint: what does philosophical pragmatism have to say about the relation between self and society? How might one use that to use the symbolic interactionist insights of Cooley or Mead to explain broader patterns of order and change in society?