Abstract: This study attempts to explore the major trait of the self as a knowing subject. Acknowledging that the self is also an object constituted by social interaction, this paper draws on George Herbert Mead’s symbolic behaviorism, and suggests that the human self comes to emerge as a social reality through imitative participation in its own community. This study primarily focuses on the social quality of selfhood, and the knower’s role of interaction in apprehending reality. For Mead, social interaction means the interaction between individuals that takes place through symbols such as signs, gestures, and language. Symbolic communication consists of the stimuli of shared responses among two or more individuals by the use of a symbol. Finally, this study explores Mead’s concept of emergence of the self in terms of a process of social communication that enables the viewing of oneself from the perspective of others?the “I” and the “Me.” Individual human organisms observe, evaluate and construct their own conduct similarly to the way they examine the behavior of the rest of the people in a social group. Without the viewpoints of generalized others that shape the “me,” there would exist nothing to which the “I” could respond. At last, the self is constrained because people are members of groups, organizations, and communities, all of which confront them with a generalized other whose demands must be taken into account.
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-10-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot