Emergence of micro sociology – C.H. Cooley, G. H. Mead and Herbert Blumer

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EMERGENCE OF MICRO-
SOCIOLOGY
C.H COOLEY, G.H MEAD & HERBERT BLUMER

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EMERGENCE OF MICRO-
SOCIOLOGY
• Synonymous with interactionist perspective
• Opposed to the grand narratives of the functionalist
theories of Talcott Parsons and Robert K Merton-
general theories of society which would resemble the
natural sciences-Macro Sociology
• In contrast, Micro-sociology was sceptical about such
grand pretensions, suspicious of
‘professionalisation’ (scientifically based profession
such as medicine, psychology, economics etc)

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• In place of the bulky theoretical volumes produced by the
leading functionalists, outlining complex theoretical schemes,
the interactionists typically reported their work in the form of
short essays containing a minimum of explicit theorising
• 1940s &60s this perspective influenced the future direction of
American Sociology
• Parsons and Merton tried to make Sociology a scientific
profession, Everett Hughes (1895-1982) and later, Herbert
Blumer (1900-1987) resisted on the ground that Sociology
should be an open association of scholars rather than an
exclusive professional organisation

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• According to Interactionists, valid sociological knowledge
must emerge gradually from the study of real people in real
situations; through the sort of fieldwork developed by social
anthropologists- than from the abstract ‘armchair theorising’
of the functionalists.
• The contrast between functionalist and symbolic interactionist
perspectives in sociology is expressed in terms of the scale of
the social phenomena which the respective approaches
address; the word ‘interaction’ appears to suggest a primary
focus on ‘micro’ (small scale, face-to-face encounters) as
opposed to the large scale patterns of social organisation
(macro) with which the functionalists were concerned

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• For interactionists, sociological theory could be
developed on the basis of substantial knowledge of
how social life is actually lived
• Interactionists prefer concrete over the abstract; doing
actual studies rather than elaborating theories
• Studies of ‘everyday’ situations for it was in these that
human society was actually manifested and patterns
of social organisation enacted

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• The tradition of symbolic interactionism emerged early in the
twentieth century- in the context of efforts by sociologists at
the University of Chicago to understand the development
that city in a period of rapid growth, change and disruption
• Effects of industrialisation, urbanisation, international
migration and global economic change - well evident in the
streets of Chicago itself
• University of Chicago initiated a programmed of studies of
the life of the city (especially its underside); marginalised
communities/morally outcast and their issues

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• These concerns formed the important elements on the
symbolic interactionist tradition
• It developed as a coherent intellectual perspective
• G.H Mead, C.H. Cooley and Herbert Blumer: Key
figures

8. C.H COOLEY
1864-1929
American Sociologist
Key figure in Symbolic Interactionism
Social Psychological view
‘SELF AND SOCIETY ARE TWIN BORN’
Focused on qualitative data to understand
the social relationship and behaviour

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• Looking Glass Self
• Primary Group
• Secondary Groups
• Social Structure
Major Concepts

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The Looking Glass Self
“We develop a sense of who we are in society based on the interaction with
others and how we feel other perceive us”
—The Looking Glass Self
• Discussed in his book, “Human Nature and the Social Order” (1922)
• The concept of “I”; how throughout life, people attempt to develop a sense of
“I”; which is developed though the communication with the individuals
• The feeling of self is socially constructed and other determines his concept of
the “Looking glass self”
• “I” cannot exist without “You”; “He” cannot exist without “They”

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• People are actors in society; the interaction between these
actors and the people who are in the actors’ primary groups
ultimately develop a sense of self for the actor
• First the actor imagines how he Or she appears to those around;
seconds the actor determines how they perceive others have
judged their appearance; finally the actor cultivates feelings
about himself or herself by the way they have perceived people
judge them-the responses either shame or pride
• Others, thus become the “Looking Glasses” that people see
themselves reflected
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PRIMARY GROUPS
• Relevance of primary group in the development the individual
• Group size and social cohesion: More a group associates
with one another (time), the more the group comes together
(frequency), and the more the group reveals to one another
(intimacy), the more the group is to become a primary group
• Primary groups are characterised by those face-to-face
association and cooperation; the interaction with primary
group shape the social nature and an individual’s ideals
• An individual’s intimate association with a primary group
combines many individualities in a “common whole”

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SECONDARY GROUPS
• Time, frequency of contact and intimacy determine the
type of group
• The less time the group spends together, the less
contact and the less interaction, the more they
become a secondary group
• A secondary group is one where the relationship
between more professional, distant, cool and
contractual. Eg. workplace, classroom and other
professional settings

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SOCIAL ORGANISATION
• Cooley formulated the crucial role of primary groups (family,
play groups and community elders) as the source of one’s
morals, sentiments and ideals. Social organisation is what
makes up a society
• He focused on the relationship between the individual to the
larger unity of the society; viewed society and individual as one
since they cannot exist without one another
• As societies try to cope with their difficulties, they adjust these
two kinds of values to one another as best they can; idea of
hero worshipping- internalisation of social norms because they
represent and save as an example to reinforce social values

15. G.H MEAD
1863-1931
American philosopher, social theorist
Key figure in American pragmatism
Considered as Father of Symbolic
Interactionism

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• Published many research papers and not a single book
during his lifetime
• Yet his influence on American sociology and social
psychology since World War II has been exceedingly
strong
• Social psychology and social act; Meads conception of
the social self with the phases of the “I” and the “me”,
the attitude of the “generalised others”; an alternative
to the mechanical stimulus-response modern of action

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• Mead rejected the dualism between body and soul
present in psychophysical parallelism and
introspectionism, against which he insisted on the social
character of self-consciousness
• He considered sociology to the social psychology; it is
concerned with the study of individual and society,
especially the influence of group membership in individual
behaviour
• The basic unit of analysis in social psychology is social
act (act here means the interaction between two or more
individuals who possess an established division of labour)
• Each individual interact in a unique way; interaction is an
evolutionarily developed social skill by the individuals

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• According to Mead, “gestures were the most original (primordial)
social act and all our physical gestures are our social gestures
• Mind, self and society; Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1934- Major work
• MIND- He didn’t consider mind as a thing, but as a social
process; a process of internal conversation with one self through
the use of significant symbols and what is important in this
process is taking the role of the other
• according to him, thinking is also an interaction with oneself and
it is called reflexivity
• According to him, mind of human beings are qualitatively
different from that of lower animals; flexibility of the mind gives
intelligence to the human beings which is absent in animals

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SELF:
• Self only develops through interaction
• Three stages through which the self of a person develops;
imitative stage, play stage and game stage
• Preparatory stage (Imitation): a child try to imitate what ever he/
she sees around
• Play stage: role taking, someone who is immediate and very close
to the child and these persons who are very close to the child are
called “the significant others” (eg. father, mother or siblings)
• Game stage: child starts completely understanding his role; takes
the role of not the significant others only but “the generalised
others”; game stage has certain rules and regulations and play
stage do not have

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• He also explains two components of self: I and Me
• I- is the subjective component which the person is
unaware of (unconscious part); the instinctual,
spontaneous part of the self
• Me- the social self; the self as a meaningful ‘object’
that is constructed and reconstructed in interaction
and through which action is managed and impulses
socialised (conscious part; societal part; norms of the
society which a person internalises in an objective
manner through the process of socialisation)

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• The ‘internal conversation’
• Role Making-adopting a particular role in interaction
• Role Taking- Understanding others by imagining their
perspective

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SOCIETY
• according to Mead, society is a human construction.
• It is an area of organised activity which is regulated by the
generalised others
• Develops out of the complex interactions among human beings
• It is arena between mind and self
• It contains patterned interaction in the form of conflict,
cooperation and assimilation etc.

23. HERBERT
BLUMER
1900-1987
Student of Mead
Symbolic interactionism and
methods of social research
Individuals create social reality
through collective and individual
action

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According to him,
1. people are unique and they use symbols
2. We only become human through interaction
3. People are conscious/reflexive actors who shape their own behaviour
4. Only reflexive ongoing interaction is real, not the macro structure. Social
life is made up of ‘real-life’ encounters
5. People act in, and towards, situations and objects apply meaning to them
6. Understanding social action requires us to understand the meanings
behind it

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• Society is not composed of macro structure; it is
composed of actors and actions; so the actions done
by the actors in the society is called ‘joint action’; in
this perspective, he considered society as dynamic
process; society doesn’t control social action rather
joint action is creating society
• Human society is composed of individuals who have
‘selves’ and it is the self which help him to interpret the
acton of others and to guide his own actions

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• Individual action is constructed through a step by step
process of self indication
• Group action consist of the aligning of individual action
which brought about by this individual’s interpreting
and taking into account each other’s action
(coordinated action of all individuals- group action)
• Methodological implications (taking the role of the
subject) If social scientist has to understand the
interaction process, he has to bracket his
consciousness or self

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Writing Activity
• What is reflexivity?
• Examine the interactionist perspectives of Mead and
Blumer
• Illustrate the meaning of Pragmatism
• What is interpretive sociology?
• Define the concept of self in symbolic interactionism

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REFERENCES
• Wes W. Sharrock, John A. Hughes, Peter J. Martin -
Understanding Modern Sociology-Sage Publications
(2003)
• (Routledge Classics in Sociology) G. H. Mead, edited
by Filipe Carreira da Silva - G.H. Mead_ A Reader
(Routledge Classics in Sociology)-Routledge (2011)