A history of social thoughtBogardus, Emory S. (Emory Stephen)
History
A history of social thought
Bogardus, Emory S. (Emory Stephen)
Social psychology; Sociology -- History
In 1902, _Human Nature and the Social Order_ by Professor Charles H.
Cooley was published. This book was at once accepted as an authority
on the integral relationship of the individual self and the social
process. It was followed in 1909 by _Social Organization_, and in
1918 by _Social Process_. The three books constitute a chronological
development of a logical system of psycho-sociologic thought.
The first volume treats of the self in its reactions to group life;
the second explains the nature of primary groups, such as the family,
playground, and neighborhood, of the democratic mind, and of social
classes; the third analyzes the many elements in the processes by which
society is characterized. The chief thesis of the three volumes is that
the individual and society are aspects of the same phenomenon, and that
the individual and society are twin-born and twin-developed.[XXIII-1]
An individual has no separate existence. Through the hereditary
and social elements in his life he is inseparately bound up with
society.[XXIII-2] He cannot be considered apart from individuals. Even
the phenomena which are called individualistic “are always socialistic
in the sense that they are expressive of tendencies growing out of
the general life.”[XXIII-3] It is not only true that individuals make
society, but equally true that society makes individuals.
Professor Cooley has given an excellent presentation of what he calls
the looking-glass self. There are three distinct psychic elements in
this phenomenon: (1) the imagination of one’s appearance to another
person; (2) the imagined estimation of that appearance by the other
person; and (3) a sense of pride or chagrin that is felt by the
first person. The looking-glass self affects the daily life of all
individuals. “We are ashamed to seem evasive in the presence of a
straightforward man, cowardly in the presence of a brave one, gross
in the eyes of a refined one, and so on.”[XXIII-4] Even a person’s
consciousness of himself is largely a direct reflection of the opinions
and estimates which he believes that others hold of him.[XXIII-5]
Professor Cooley makes a lucid distinction between self consciousness,
social consciousness, and public consciousness. The first is what I
think of myself; the second, what I think of other people; and the
third, a collective view of the self and the social consciousness
of all the members of a group organized and integrated into
a communicating group.[XXIII-6] Moreover, all three types of
consciousness are parts of an organic whole. Even the moral life of
individuals is a part of the organic unity of society. Social knowledge
is the basis of morality. An upward endeavor is the essence of moral
progress.
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