Symbolic paper 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Symbolic paper 3 - Essay Example However, symbolic interaction becomes more realistic when humans are able to interpret the actions of others by applying a meaning to the actions. George Herbert Mead discusses the notion of significant other (pg. 127) and the generalized other (pg. 128) as examples of symbols with which we interact. The individual self comes out of the experiences a person has had as a result of symbolic interactions and gestures presented by society. However, more central to his argument is the idea of the I and the me which are slightly different aspects of the self. The me is a production of the environment in which the person lives. It is created when the person acquires knowledge about society and the ways in which s/he relates to it. Things such as gender, age, socioeconomic position all become parts of the me and this created by how other individual respond to him/her. The I on the other hand, is the active persona of the individual which works within the parameters set by the me to interact with society. As a part of the formation of the self, the ideas of Cooley have to be considered important since his position on the looking glass self (pg. 129) is quite useful in many cases. According to Cooley, the looking glass self is created when a person judges him/herself unconsciously or consciously to be a certain way in terms of traits and personality. Then the person observes and views the reactions of others to understand how much of their own concept is true which in turn creates as well as evaluates a personal concept of the self. Of course a person can use disclaimers to present a different image of him/herself as discussed by Goffman (pg. 132), but his ideas on symbolic interaction are important not because of the idea of disclaimers but because of the idea that we may be called upon to play different roles in different situations. The idea of having a front stage where we interact with society or other