The Social Self

There is social interaction between members of a family, between them and the community and then again with individuals external to that community, society, or another social organization, that gave theorists the idea that they can reduce social intercourse to an individual level. This is where social theories are today. They have changed since the nineteenth century where the grand scheme of things was supposed to explain things.

As children would learn their culture, identify that from their parents and pass it on, or refuse to do so was an expression of their social self, how the individual person sees society as an instrument to fulfill his needs. All that was part of what was labeled the American free spirit. That social self takes place starting in childhood where according to the sociologist, George Mead; the individual uses symbols in the form of language or other means to communicate experiences and ideas. Those symbols changed during history according to him much the same way that languages have come into use and gone out of existence.

His view was similar to that of Freud in that the individual self would be reconstructed or deconstructed much the same way as behaviorists described the development of personalities as the main influential factor of social interactions and social theories.Freud established that each child developed a personality which would be distinct from others, characterized all individuals and would be the basis of the man’s social behaviour. Later social development researchers concurred that the age of the child coming into his own personality would be about seven.

According to social theorists of the 20th century, the self could only be understood to an individual if he were exposed to society of had some social interaction. This had nothing to do with the individual wanting to become one person and not another. It is as if each person was a miniature reflection of the society surrounding him. Up until then people understood they were conditioned by social pressures, which is a valid point but that they were the product of their situation and not necessarily individuals who would develop a clear self by interacting socially.