Outline and Discuss Gh Mead’s Concept of the Self. How Has This Concept Been Applied in Goffman’s Work on (a) ‘Total Institutions’ and (B) Everyday Life?

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Outline and discuss GH Mead’s concept of the self. How has this concept been applied in Goffman’s work on (a) ‘total institutions’ and (b) everyday life? Within the scope of this concise assignment the writer shall elucidate the concept of the self within GH Mead and Goffman’s work. This shall be achieved by outlining and discussing the main findings of GH Mead’s analysis of the self. Evaluation and discussion of symbolic interaction, conception and formation of the self from a sociological perspective are pivotal points mentioned. Both sociologists are in conjunction regarding the use of the “me” and “I” concept as discussed in this assignment. Goffman established theoretical approaches of communication, institutional analysis, and fundamentally noted the presentation of the self in everyday life- how we display ourselves to others (and at the same time decide which parts are visible and which are invisible) (Calhoun et al., 2007). George Herbert Mead , renowned in the sociological world as the progenitor of the symbolic interactionist school, which develops his thoughts on the social nature of the act and its relation to the human self and society, he is noted as one of the most original thinkers in twentieth-century in American philosophy (Turner, 2006). Mead’s attempted to show how the human self-arises in the process of social interaction, especially by way of linguistic communication (“symbolic interaction”). Mead was of the belief that socialisation is one method individuals learn to think, interact with one another, and understand how to use meanings and symbols (Cronk, 2005). Defining the situation is another way that individuals actively engage in defining the social world. Finally, creating a "looking-glass" self helps individuals to recognise and judge the impressions we make on others we interact with (Cronk, 2005). In philosophy, Mead was one of

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