The Sociological Perspective
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE SELF
 Self is not discovered; it is made through the socialization
process.
 BUT individuals are not just hapless victims of socialization.
 The individual is an active strategizing agent that negotiates for
the definition of himself.
 “Ikaw ang gumagawa ng kung ano ka.”
 Self is acquired socially through language, like symbols.
 We construct ourselves based on our social roles through
socialization agents- family, school, community, etc.
THE LOOKING GLASS SELF
 A social psychological concept created by
Charles Horton Cooley in 1902.
 It states that a person’s self grows out of
society’s interpersonal interactions and the
perceptions of others.
 The term refers to people shaping their
identity based on the perception of others,
which leads the people to reinforce other
people’s perspectives on themselves.
 People shape themselves based on what
other people perceive and confirm other
people’s opinion of themselves.
 Our sense of self is influenced by other’s view of
us
3 MAIN COMPONENTS OF
LOOKING GLASS SELF
•First, we imagine how we must
appear to others.
•Second, we imagine the
judgment of that appearance.
•Finally, we develop our self
through the judgments of others.
MEAD’S THREE STAGES OF
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF
 The Preparatory Stage
 Starts from the time we were born until we
are about age two.
 In this stage, children mimic those around
them.
 This why parents of young children typically
do not want you to use foul language around
them (Rath, 2016).
 If a two-year old child can “read”, what he or
she has most likely done is memorized the
book that had been read to him or her.
 In noon time TV show, some artists might use
foul language like “bwisit”, “bastos” and so is
the language of the child who hears them.
 Does he/she have an idea of what he/she is
doing? No. Because he or she is just
mimicking.
MEAD’S THREE STAGES OF
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF
 The Play Stage
 From about two to six, children are in the
play stage.
 During the play stage, children play
pretend and do not adhere to the rules in
organized games like patintero or
basketball.
 Playing a game with children of this age
is far easier to go with “rules” they come
up with during the course of the game
that trying to enforce any “rules” upon
them.
 Playing Chinese garter where they do not
have one specific set of rules as the last
time they played it.
 Bahay-bahayan- they are pretending to
be the mommy and daddy that they
literally know.
MEAD’S THREE STAGES OF
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF
 The Game Stage
 Age seven onwards
 In this stage, children can begin to understand
and adhere to the rules of the games.
 They can begin to play more formalized
games because they begin to understand
other people’s perspective-or the perspective
of the generalized other.
 In this stage, when children play “pretend”,
they may still play “bahay-bahayan” but are
pretending to be a mommy or daddy
independent of the one that resides in their
home.
 The generalized other refers to the viewpoint
of the social group at large.
 The child begins taking perspective into
account during this stage (Rath, 2016)
LET’S REFLECT:
Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you
making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them
for you?
ASYNCHRONOUS ACTIVITY:
Create a collage of your Ideal Self and Real Self that represents your “two selves”
• 5 pictures for ideal self- what you want/imagine yourself to be
• 5 pictures for real self- who we really are
• Provide a brief explanation of your ideal self and real self
• A4 bond paper