Ideas of Charles Cooley

Charles Cooley was natural on 17th August 1864 and died on 8th May1929. He was George Meads contemporary, and for each one greatly influenced the differents entailing. Like Mead, Cooley believed that favorable fundamental interaction is the basis of the accessibleization process. Cooley saw the individual and society as separate of a whole, not as separate entities. In Cooleys guess, each individual is linked to the social world mainly through the t peerless render ego. His own self-examination and observation of his children aided him in forming his concepts of the looking-glass self and base groups.This es suppose focuses on the looking glass self speculation of Charles Cooley and his other ideas. Sociologist Charles Cooley is best known for his concept of looking glass self, the scheme that self- externalize is formed largely by the message we get from others, and an individuals interpretation of those messages. Cooley argued that a persons self grows reveal of a per sons transaction with others. Ones consciousness of him or herself is a reflection of the ideas ab protrude him or herself that he or she attri merelyes to other minds thus, there can be no isolated selves.In other lyric poem Cooley says that we follow up ourselves as we think others see us. For example, when learning table politeness children give way a thought of what others keep acceptable and as they a taught they become socialized. Through the looking glass, we learn that we ar intelligent or dull, attractive or unattractive. Cooley argues that the judgments of close to people in our lives are to a greater extent important than judgments of others, for example a spouses compliment or low opinion may suck in a greater progeny on aboutones self perception than the same signalise made by some stranger.The lingering influence of significant of others helps develop how we can sometimes maintain a positive self image at times when many people look down on us, or negati ve self image when many people think well of us. The looking glass self is a simple and interior(prenominal) metaphor for the way societys image for us becomes collective into our own self image. The looking-glass self begins at an early age and continues throughout a persons entire support as one will never stop modifying their self unless all social interactions cease.We do not see ourselves us through the eyes of others quite as literally as we see ourselves in an actual mirror. Our notion of how others see us may not be quite accurate and we may also be evaluated differently by different people. What others think of you is no doubt very important in making your self-image and as a result, who you are and what you do. According to Cooley, we gain a definition of our self in three steps prototypally through the beliefs about how we appear to others, second through the beliefs about their judgments of how we appear to them and thirdly the response to the imagined judgment.Throu gh the imagined judgment we develop pride, shame, improved self-esteem, slightly damaged self-esteem, and other attributes of the self. Once Cooley had established his theory of the self, he then focused his analysis on the human groupings that he conceived to be primitive and secondary in linking man with his society and in integrating individuals into the social fabric. Cooley defined radical feather groups as those small groups in which all the members have enduring, intimate face-to-face interaction and cooperation. Cooley coined the term primary for these groups because they include the family, our first social group, and social linkages.Close friends, childrens play groups, and possibly some neighbors and some work groups also constitute primary groups. As Cooley explains, primary groups are important in forming the social nature and ideals of individuals. In primary groups, members value each other as individuals and achieve from face-to-face fulfillment. They do things that will benefit the group, without expectation of payment or self-seeking benefit. Example, one member of a family might wash laundry or perform housework that benefits all members.On the other hand, secondary groups are bigger groups in which all members do not interact directly and have relationships that are not permanent. Members do not share intimate bonds resembling those in primary groups. People do join these groups for benefits in some way. They may leave the group or join other groups when they note like it is necessary. However, these groups may still have some shared norms and instinct of group identity. Examples of secondary groups include office workers and students in an exercise class. These groups are also important to our views of ourselves, but less to the primary groups.The notions of the looking-glass self and the primary group are closely related in Cooleys views. The reactions to the thoughts of others is the mark of the get on with human and according to Cooley can be developed and fostered only in the close and intimate interactions of the primary group. Hence, this group is the cell in which characteristically human growth takes place. In the primary group the immature and egocentric person is slowly attuned to the needs and desires of others and becomes fitted to the give-and-take of mature social life.The primary group fosters the ability to put oneself into the piazza of others, drawing the individual out of egotistic isolation by building into him that sensitivity to the clues of others without which social life would be impossible. The differences between primary and secondary groups are as follows, primary groups are smaller because it consists of few members and this helps develop its members personal relations among themselves bandage secondary groups are larger and due to its size the members do not have personal relations. Relation is natural in primary groups and testis in secondary groups.Also the position of me mbers is determined by his work or function in secondary groups but in primary groups, the position of each person is determined on the basis of the family. Cooleys sociology is holistic. He stressed about the systematic relationships between social processes in society. He argued that each aspect of society was dependent on others for its growth and survival. If we say that society is an organism, we mean that it is a complex form of processes each of which is life history and growing by interaction with the others, the whole being so interrelated that what takes place in one part affects all the rest.In addition to these inseparable concerns, Cooley, like W. I Thomas & George H Mead made a life-and-death important contribution to sociological method. Independently of Max Weber but roughly the same time as he, they argued that the study of human actions essential(prenominal) be concerned with the meanings human actors attach to the situation in which they find themselves henc e the study must go beyond purely behavioral description. Cooley believed that the social sciences deprived themselves of their best material by leaving out human motives for action.Cooley emphasized that the study of the human social world must be centered upon attempts to examine the subjective meanings human actors attribute to their actions, and that such meanings must be studied in part through understanding sooner than through exclusive reliance on the reporting of behavior. Cooleys theories tenderd evidence in response to a soprano necessity that had developed within the society. The first of which was the necessity to create an understanding of ocietal phenomena that highlighted the subjective mental processes of individuals yet realize that these subjective processes were effects and causes of societys processes. The second necessity examined the development of a social dynamic conception that pictured states of chaos as natural occurrences which could provide opportun ities for adaptive innovation. Finally, a need to demonstrate that people were capable of exerting some form of inform moral control over current problems and forthcoming directions.In conclusion, Charles Cooley is known in sociology most commonly for his development for the looking glass self. Cooley was one of the first to define the exact importance that society plays in forming the individual. He was also renowned for discovering human groups within the society stating that there are primary and secondary groupings that link man to society each having different, however, similar functions. Moreover, he argued that society is like an organism in the sense that each aspect of society is dependent on the other in order to survive.Furthermore Cooley argued that the study of human actions must be concerned with the meanings earth attach to the activity. Finally, Cooleys theories provided evidence in response to a threefold necessity that developed within the society necessities to create an understanding of social phenomena, a necessity that examined a social dynamic conception and a need to demonstrate that people were capable of exerting some form of informed moral control.Bibliography Coser L. A, Masters of sociological Thought, 2nd Ed, Aarcourt Brace & Company, New York, 1977. Levine, D. N, Visions of the Sociological Tradition. The University of Chicago Press, 1995 Starks, R. Sociology. 10th ed. Belmont, CA Thomson Wadsworth, 2007. Stolley, K. S, The Basics of Sociology, Greenwood Press, Westport Connecticut, 2005