THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS SELF

Caption: Wu (orange kitty) develops his sense of self by fighting with Seamus McGoogle.

El Cabrero is musing about sociology this week, although you will also find links and comments about current events. In particular, I've been thinking about that approach to the study of society that has been called symbolic interactionism, an approach that was first developed in this country.

Three pioneers of this approach are George Herbert Mead, Charles Cooley, and W.I. Thomas. Each deserves way more space that they're going to get here but here's a selection of their greatest hits that hold up pretty well.

George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) was a pioneer in this field. He believed that people develop a sense of themselves through interaction with others, a process that begins in childhood. Through play--which moves from simple imitation to complex games--children learn to take on the role of the other and begin to imagine how their own actions appear to others. He called this the sense of the "generalized other." Through the process of socialization, a child gradually develops a sense of the "I" or self as active subject.

Charles Cooley was an almost exact contemporary of Mead (1864-1929) who proceeded along similar lines. He is largely remembered today for his idea of "the looking glass self." This refers to the pretty much undisputed idea that we derive our sense of ourselves from how we are treated by others and how they respond to us.

Another theorist in this tradition was W.I. Thomas (1963-1947) who is most widely remembered today for what came to be called the "Thomas theorem," which goes like this:

If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.

It's hard to argue with this one either. If people think Martians are landing and wreaking havoc--as many did when Orson Welles aired his radio version of "War of the Worlds" in the 1930s--they're gonna act like the Martians are a-coming, even if they're not. We see the Thomas theorem in action pretty much every day in the news and maybe even in the living room.

One of the most interesting symbolic interactionists was Erving Goffman, but that'll have to keep until tomorrow.

THE OLD IDEA of the tradeoff between jobs and the environment needs to be retired. This item argues that aggressively attacking climate change could revitalize US manufacturing.

OH GOOD. New generations of "non-lethal" weapons might mimic schizophrenia.

WANT TO ADD SOME ZEST TO YOUR CAREER? Here are some suggestions.

A SPOT IN THE BRAIN. This is an interesting item on the physiology of prejudice.

IS BIGFOOT IN WV or have researchers just not met some of the guys I went to school with? Here's the Daily Mail on the subject.

HAVE YOU THANKED A FISH TODAY? Maybe you should. And don't forget a nod to cuttlefish as well.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

SYMBOLICALLY SPEAKING

Caption: Fuzzy roosters discuss the social construction of reality.

Every once in a while, El Cabrero teaches an off-campus evening sociology class for my alma mater. I have several reasons for doing this, not least of which is the privilege of getting a university library card so I can find obscure books with which to regale you, Gentle Reader.

As is usually discussed in most any such class, there are several different ways of approaching the study of society. It's common practice although somewhat problematic to break down theoretical approaches into three main orientations: functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist.

Functionalist approaches can run from the ridiculous to the sublime but generally focus on how various activities or institutions affect the overall social structure. One of the best functionalist theorists was the late great Robert Merton, who was featured here a while back.

Conflict theory is pretty much what it sounds like. It tends to focus on inequalities of power, wealth and privilege between groups and how these are fought over or rationalized or some combination thereof.

The branch that I find to be increasingly interesting in my old age is the symbolic interactionist approach, which studies the way people create and interpret meanings through communication. Symbols can include anything from language to clothing to sacred images. For some reason, this approach developed primarily in the United States.

More on this tomorrow.

POVERTY and the political will to do something about it is the subject of this Paul Krugman column.

PLAY ON. the NY Times Magazine has a huge article about it which takes it pretty seriously.

CHRONICLES OF PHILANTHROPY. Here's an op-ed by yours truly on recent "charitable" efforts to plug Ayn Rand's ideology.

AFTER NAFTA. Thousands of Mexicans are organizing against the aftershocks of the North American Free Trade Agreement. As Jim Hightower pointed out recently, people who get angry over immigration to this country might want to consider that one reason for it is that many Mexicans have lost jobs or seen living standards fall since its passage in 1994. According to Hightower, 19 million more Mexicans live in poverty today than when NAFTA was passed.

FULL COURT PRESS. The WV Supreme Court story just keeps getting better and better. Justice Larry Starcher, who has been publicly critical of Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, announced Friday that he would recuse himself from a case involving Massey. If you recall, Justice Spike Maynard recused himself after pictures surfaced of Blankenship and him vacationing in Monaco after the court agreed to hear the case. Starcher has urged Justice Brent Benjamin to recuse himself as well. A political unknown, Benjamin was elected to the court in 2004 with the help of millions of Blankenship's money. No wonder WV's court debacle was the inspiration for John Grisham's latest novel.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED