George Herbert Mead: biography and contributions of this philosopher and sociologist

They say that George Herbert Mead's classes at the University of Chicago were packed. Philosophy students (because, curiously, one of the best sociologists of the 20th century was, first, a philosopher) were really excited about Mead's way of engaging them in his classes, based on a totally socratic. Thus, a fluid and lively dialogue was established, which also attracted doctoral students in sociology from the university.

In this George Herbert Mead biography You will meet one of the most important sociologists of the 20th century, founder, among other things, of the theory of symbolic interactionism.

Brief biography of George Herbert Mead, creator of symbolic interactionism

To be fair, we should say “one of the creators”. Because, along with Mead, other authors were also behind the origin of this current, such as Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929) and Erving Goffman (1922-1982). The first establishes his theory of the "mirror self" as early as 1902, which recovers some bases of William James

(1842-1910) and who maintains that the image we have of ourselves is fed by what others think of us and how they see us. On the other hand, Goffman lays the foundations of microsociology, which deals with human interaction on a small scale, on a day-to-day basis.

As for the term, It was Herbert Blumer (1900-1987), also from the Chicago School of Sociology, who coined the term "symbolic interactionism." in 1937 to encompass Mead's collected theories.

All these currents have their roots in the individual self in constant interaction with others, which makes up what we call society. But let's take a deeper look at who George Herbert Mead was and what his contributions to sociology were.

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The philosophy professor who became a sociologist

We have already commented in the introduction that Mead taught philosophy classes, not sociology. His "turning" of him into one of the most famous representatives of modern sociology is motivated, first, by the close relationship that philosophy sustains and has always sustained with sociology (and everything that concerns being human); and second, because we have already said that His classes aroused real passion at the University of Chicago, and not just among his philosophy students..

George Herbert Mead was born in 1863 in the state of Massachusetts (USA). Before teaching in Chicago, he had studied at various schools in the country and also in Europe, although, according to Professor George Ritzer, he never obtained an official degree.

However, despite the lack of certification, Mead soon established himself as one of the most brilliant teachers at the University of Chicago, where he held the position of professor until his death in 1931. In their classes he deeply stressed the great importance of the Self, that is, of the individual mind, within the social gear, which led him to postulate some of the bases of symbolic interactionism and, above all, of the first social behaviorism.

His works appeared posthumously: in 1932 The Philosophy of the Present was published; in 1934, Mind, Self and Society from the Point of View of a Social Behaviorist; and finally, in 1938, The Philosophy of the Act came to light. Mead is famous for not having left anything written in his life, or at least nothing finished; His books are the result of a compilation of his numerous notes, lectures and classes.

It is known, however, that at the end of the day he had the intention of polishing and publishing his notes, a task that he could not carry out, since his death surprised him before finishing the task. It was others (especially his students) who, collecting the numerous manuscripts that Mead had left, they were able to capture his ideas in the form of finished works, and they did, in this way, a great favor to the sociology.

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The "I" and society

For Mead, the Self, that is, individual consciousness, arises as an interaction with society.. That is to say, it is a social process, through which the being becomes self-conscious and enters a state of "shyness". This individual consciousness arises, then, as a result of contact with the environment, from which it follows, according to Mead, that the mind is a social product.

Mead's theories are behavioral and pragmatist. That is to say, both Mead and his followers do not conceive the subject as something isolated from the social context in which he is immersed. They are realistic, insofar as it is reality that directs the behavior of the individual towards society. In this sense, the famous theory of the emergence of the self (that is, of the ego) supported by Herbert Mead proposes that the emergence of the ego is the result of an adaptation to the environment. First, there would exist the impulse to satisfy the needs of the subject. These needs and their immediate satisfaction entail a mandatory adaptation to the environment, from which this satisfaction will be obtained.

This adaptation is present in all organisms, but, according to Mead, in humans there is a essential characteristic: reflexive adaptation, very different from the mere biological or instinctive adaptation of animals. And it is precisely this reflexive human adaptation that becomes the emergency engine of the self, of the I, which will therefore depend on the social context of the individual.

The Act Theory

Mead's Act Theory is closely linked with this awakening of the self in relation to society. The Act Theory can be divided into four phases: the first is precisely the impulse that the organism feels to satisfy its needs (for example, to eat). The second is the perception that this organism has of its environment; where to find the source that meets your need? Therefore, the obligation to interact with the environment is established. The third phase is that of manipulation, understanding the word as the manual shaping of the environment; for example, finding a way to get the fruit that hangs from a tree.

And, finally, the fourth phase would be the consummation, in which the organism has managed to manipulate his environment satisfactorily and has been able to satisfy his primary need or drive (to eat, in this case).

Unlike animals, humans include a social act in our interaction with the environment, “significant gestures”, the greatest exponent of which would, of course, be language. Through language we interact with our context to satisfy these needs and, unlike other types of gestures shared with animals, language stimulates sender and receiver in equal parts. In this way, and summarizing the above, significant gestures are the vehicle through which the human being communicates with his environment and allows him to adapt.

symbolic interactionism

George Herbert Mead was one of the pioneers in what Blumer called symbolic interactionism. Many authors, however, situate it in a kind of "pre-interactionism", although it is evident that many of the bases of this current arise from his theory.

Interactionism is a key sociological movement of the 20th century and certainly the first to change the focus from which he analyzes the sociological phenomenon, by placing the individual as a starting point to understand the society. This is precisely why interactionism is so close to other disciplines such as psychology, since it focuses on the individual.

At the bases of the interactionist thinking of Mead and other authors is, of course, pragmatism, of which we have already spoken, as well as the behaviorism, who focuses his research on observable human behaviors. And we must not forget the contributions of Georg Simmel (1858-1918), a German philosopher and sociologist, one of the first to argue that the person acts only in relation to others; that is, with society.

The isolated individual is neither comprehensible nor feasible; this was seen by all interactionists, including George Herbert Mead, of whom we have sketched a small review that we hope will be useful for you to understand the scope of his ideas in the world current.