Saurabh SharmaAIR 23 · CSE 2023 · 215 wordsTheir whole copy
Opening
G.H. Mead through the work on "Mind-Self and Society" has bridged the gap between sociology and psychology by emphasising on "Interactions" which refers to coming together of two reflexive minds to produce a social context with help of symbols.
Body · continuous prose
"Mind" which is storehouse of knowledge, experiences, rules, norms incorporates meanings attached to certain symbols in a particular culture reacting and reflecting to which he/she conducts an reaction.
(Eg.) Smiling, Crying, Laughing, Shouting are attached to certain emotions and guide the action of the other individual.
Symbols are learnt through the process of socialisation i.e. in game stage and play stage. (Eg): Girl playing with a kitchen set develops a notion that symbols attached to domestic work are associated with her and thus gets socialized in a feminine way as society wants.
Man is a reflexive animal unlike other animals according to Mead, as a result of which a self is cultivated based on the symbols present in society, culture, religion and laws complying to which man acts in a socially desirable way.
Without symbols, it becomes difficult to understand expectations of other thus one can't adapt/steer/change one's behaviour.
Close · a summary
Importance of symbols has thus lead to development of symbolic interactionism and other methods like ethnomethodology, phenomenology in sociological enquiry thus expanding the scope of the discipline.