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Sas 1 Important Points

William James conceptualized the self as having two elements: the "I" representing introspection and the center of experience, and the "Me" representing the social self known through interactions. This dualist and essentialist understanding treats the individual and society as separate and views psychological processes as essential to the individual. A more critical approach emphasizes how individuals live in a social world through social interaction and language. Goffman conceptualized the self as something performed through social interaction, rather than as a property of the individual, focusing on how selves are presented and understood between individuals in interactions.

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Jerry Santos
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29 views1 page

Sas 1 Important Points

William James conceptualized the self as having two elements: the "I" representing introspection and the center of experience, and the "Me" representing the social self known through interactions. This dualist and essentialist understanding treats the individual and society as separate and views psychological processes as essential to the individual. A more critical approach emphasizes how individuals live in a social world through social interaction and language. Goffman conceptualized the self as something performed through social interaction, rather than as a property of the individual, focusing on how selves are presented and understood between individuals in interactions.

Uploaded by

Jerry Santos
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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1. In William James’ conceptualization, what are the two elements of the self?

Based on James' conceptualization of the self, he incorporated two aspects, "I" and "Me". The term "I" represents
a person who reflects on experiences and as the centre of introspection. On the other hand, the concept of "me" pertains as
a social self. It comprised the self as known through one's interactions with other people.
2. What do the authors mean when they aver that James’ conceptualization lead to a dualist and essentialist understanding
of the self?
The dualist and essentialist understanding provide different accounts of the self. First, there is the dualist quality
wherein individuals and society were recognized as a separate and distinct entity. Second, there is the essentialist quality
wherein treating the psychological processes and properties involved are considered as essential features of an individual.
These two core assumptions that were introduced by James mark the point of departure for critical approaches to
understanding the self. These two elements lead to an understanding of the self that ultimately is internally unsustainable
according to critical theorists.
3. In what the authors describe as a more critical approach to understanding the self, how are individual and social action
conceptualized?
The critical approach aims to comprehend how individuals live their lives in a social world. In understanding this
outlook, it emphasizes social interaction, primarily how people use language to learn meanings of daily life as they
connect socially.
4. Goffman’s work show how the self is performed through social interaction at the micro level. How is this
understanding of the self different from William James’ conceptualization of the self?
For Goffman, the self was not a property of the individual but is something that the individual performed in
interaction with others. It emphasizes on social interaction and on the results that comes from it. For James, the self
continues to be viewed as comprising two elements, individual and social, and the emphasis lies on the individual as the
site of encounters with the social world. Goffman argues that people in interactions seek to present themselves in ways
that will guide the impressions that others form of them, and that the one the individual is interacting with is attempting to
gain information about and create an image of the individual. Therefore, taking the self to be a product of social
interaction rather than as a precursor for social action focuses the attention on how individuals understand their own and
others' performances, how these are achieved in everyday talk and the functions that the selves fulfil in interaction, rather
than attempting to theorize what happens inside people's heads and after that attempting to reconnect it with the social
world.

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