George Herbert Mead Mind Self and Society
Uploaded by allupinu69 on Oct 31, 2011
This essay briefly examines Mead’s work on the interaction between individuals and society.
I Introduction
George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) was an influential American philosopher, and one of the founders of the school of thought known as Pragmatism. Perhaps his most revolutionary theory, and one that we will explore in this paper, is that the concept of mind and self arises out of society; that is, that individual psychology “is intelligible only in terms of social processes.” (Cronk, PG).
This paper examines his book Mind, Self & Society and explains some of the concepts found therein.
II Summary of Parts I, II and III
There is a great deal of information in Mead, so perhaps the best way to approach him is to discuss the ideas or precepts that are the most startling, original or compelling in his writing. Part I concentrates on social behaviorism, and in essay 1, the idea that he espouses most strongly is one that must surely have created a great deal of controversy, namely that the “whole (society) is prior to the part (individual).” (Mead, PG). That is, the individual can be explained in terms of the society, rather than the society in terms of its individual members. This would seem to stand most of what we know about human behavior on its head.
In Part I he also discusses behaviorism in its relationship to attitudes and gestures. In the first instance, he suggests that behavior is explained by the attitude that it engenders; that is, when someone approaches a horse, he approaches it with the intent to swing into the saddle and ride the animal. This gives his behavior a characteristic attitude: it is a deliberate act with foreseen purpose, not aimless wandering. (Mead, PG).
In discussing gestures, Mead suggests that they are related to language, and in fact can be seen as a language of their own. (In recent years, we have become familiar with the term “body language,” and what people tell us without saying a word.) Mead suggests that our reactions to the actions of others are instructive; we respond to implied threats and other gestures with appropriate gestures of our own, much as a snarling dog will cause other dogs to snarl in return. Gestures then would seem to be a function of emotion.
Mead concludes the first part of his...