George Herbert Mead facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
George Herbert Mead
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| Born | February 27, 1863 |
| Died | April 26, 1931 (aged 68) |
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Notable work
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Mind, Self and Society |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Pragmatism |
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Influences
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Influenced
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George Herbert Mead (born February 27, 1863 – died April 26, 1931) was an American thinker. He was a philosopher, a sociologist (someone who studies society), and a psychologist (someone who studies the mind). He taught at the University of Chicago. Mead was a key figure in a way of thinking called pragmatism. He is also known as one of the founders of symbolic interactionism. This idea helps us understand how people create meaning through talking and acting together.
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About George Herbert Mead
George Herbert Mead was born on February 27, 1863, in South Hadley, Massachusetts. He grew up in a middle-class family. His father, Hiram Mead, was a pastor and later a professor. His mother, Elizabeth Storrs Mead, taught at Oberlin College and later became president of Mount Holyoke College.
In 1879, George Mead started at Oberlin College and graduated in 1883. After college, he taught for a short time. Then, for three years, he worked as a surveyor for a railroad company.
In 1887, Mead went to Harvard University. There, he studied philosophy and psychology. He learned from important thinkers like Josiah Royce and William James. In 1888, Mead left Harvard and moved to Leipzig, Germany. He studied with psychologist Wilhelm Wundt. From Wundt, he learned about "the gesture," which became a key idea in his later work.
In 1891, Mead married Helen Kingsbury Castle. Even though he never finished his final paper (dissertation), Mead got a job at the University of Michigan in 1891. There, he met Charles H. Cooley and John Dewey. These two thinkers greatly influenced him. In 1894, Mead moved to the University of Chicago with Dewey. He taught there until he passed away.
Mead was not just a philosopher. He was also active in the social and political life of Chicago. He believed that science could help solve social problems. He even worked as a treasurer for Chicago's Hull House, a famous settlement house.
Mead died on April 26, 1931, from heart failure.
Mead's Main Ideas
George Herbert Mead's ideas help us understand how we develop our sense of self and how society works. He believed that our minds and our understanding of the world come from how we interact with others.
Pragmatism and Symbolic Interaction
Mead's work is based on two main ideas: pragmatism and social behaviorism.
Pragmatism is a way of thinking that says:
- Reality is not just "out there." We actively create it as we act in the world.
- People remember what has been useful to them. They change what no longer works.
- We define objects by how we use them.
- To understand people, we must look at what they actually do.
These ideas are very important for symbolic interactionism. This is the idea that people understand the world through symbols (like language) and how they interact. For Mead, thinking and understanding are part of our actions and interactions with others.
How We Develop Our Minds and Selves
Mead was a very important thinker in 20th-century social philosophy. One of his most famous ideas is that our minds and our sense of self grow from how we communicate with others. He wrote about this in his book Mind, Self and Society.
Mead believed that our minds are not separate from our bodies. They are not just inside our heads. Instead, our minds develop through our interactions with people around us. When we communicate, we use signs and symbols. This is how we learn to think. Mead said there is "no mind or thought without language." Language itself comes from social interaction.
The Idea of a Gesture
For Mead, everything starts with an act. The first part of an act is a gesture. A gesture is a movement that shows others what we intend to do. Think of a dog growling before it barks. That's a gesture.
In a "conversation of gestures," one person's gesture causes a reaction in another. But at this basic level, there's no real communication. Neither person knows how their own gesture affects the other. These are "nonsignificant" gestures.
For true communication, gestures must become significant symbols. A significant symbol is a gesture that means the same thing to the person making it as it does to the person receiving it. Only humans can make significant symbols. When we use significant symbols, we can truly communicate.
Social Acts and Understanding Others
Mead believed that our sense of self comes from being part of a group. We first see ourselves through the eyes of other people. Then, we learn to see ourselves as objects, just like we see others. Language helps us do this. We can talk about ourselves in the same way we talk about other people.
In group activities, which Mead called social acts, we learn to see things from other people's points of view. For example, in games, people often switch roles (like hiding and seeking). This helps us understand what it's like to be in someone else's shoes.
The 'I' and the 'Me'
Mead explained that our self is a social process. It's made up of two parts: the Me and the I.
- The Me is the "social self." It's what we understand about how others see us. It's like the organized set of attitudes that society has about us.
- The I is our response to the "Me." It's our unique, spontaneous reaction to what others expect of us.
Think of it this way: The Me is the part of you that knows the rules and expectations. The I is the part of you that acts and responds, sometimes in new or surprising ways. Our thinking process is like an inner conversation between the "I" and the "Me."
Mead believed that being part of a community comes before we become fully aware of ourselves. We first take part in different social roles. Then, we use that experience to understand others' perspectives. This is how we become truly conscious.
Play, Games, and the Generalized Other
Mead said that children learn about the social world through "play" and "games."
- Play comes first. In play, a child takes on different roles they see in adults. For example, playing "doctor" or "policeman." This helps the child understand different social roles. It also helps them start to build a sense of self. But it's a limited self because they only take on one role at a time.
- In the game stage, a person develops a full sense of self. In a game, a child must understand the roles of everyone involved. These roles are connected to each other. Mead used the example of a baseball game:
"In a game where a number of individuals are involved, then the child taking one role must be ready to take the role of everyone else. If he gets in a ball nine he must have the responses of each position involved in his own position. He must know what everyone else is going to do in order to carry out his own play."
In the game stage, children learn to work in groups. They also learn what they should do within a specific group. Mead called this the child's first meeting with the generalized other. The "generalized other" means understanding what kind of behavior is expected in different social situations, from the point of view of everyone in the group.
By understanding the "generalized other," we learn how to act in society.
Mead's Writings
George Herbert Mead wrote many articles and reviews during his life. However, he never published any books himself. After he died, his students gathered his notes and lectures. They edited them into four books. The most famous of these is Mind, Self and Society.
Other collections of his writings have been published over the years. These books help people today study Mead's important ideas about how our minds, selves, and society are connected.
See also
In Spanish: George Herbert Mead para niños
