Modern Self - Introduction to Sociology - Lecture Slides, Slides of Sociology

Download Modern Self - Introduction to Sociology - Lecture Slides and more Slides Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! Contradictions of the Modern Self • Goffman, Cooley, Mead : 1. we are socialised beings playing our approved roles 2. we acquire our sense of self through social interaction. Our identity is moulded/sculpted by the actions towards us of others 3. when we think about our actions we do so from the perspective of our culture; the ‘Me’ • Who am I? docsity.com The Need to Escape • Can we be truly ourselves only if we escape from social control? docsity.com The Individual as Social Construct • LAW The person as individually accountable • POLITICS The person as secret voter • ECONOMICS The person as rational self-interested decision-maker • The individual as social conformist • We are compelled to have an individual self, not because we actually have one but because the rules of social interaction require us to act as if we do • Goffman docsity.com The Life Plan • Our dependence on the routines of everyday life, particularly those provided by dominant institutions creates a highly predictable personal career docsity.com Free Space – Holidays 1 • The picture on the wall • Getting away from it all, but we take it all with us • The package holiday is standardised and routinised • It provides predictable experiences at standard locations docsity.com Free Acts • Hobbies • Routinised activities • Work and hobbies • Addiction docsity.com Escapes or Breaks? • We feel the need to break away a little • Cohen & Taylor Escape Attempts p.49 (emphasis added) docsity.com Social Construction of the Self • To base a resistance plan against everyday life on the invulnerability of the individual self must fail because of the ways that self is located in time and history and rooted to specific sets of social relationships • Cohen & Taylor Escape Attempts p.236 • The self is inseparable from the society that creates it docsity.com