Charles Horton Cooley was an American sociologist known for developing the theory of the looking glass self. He argued that people develop self-concepts based on how they imagine others perceive them. Cooley emphasized the importance of primary groups like family in shaping individuals and introduced concepts like the looking glass self, primary and secondary groups, and how social institutions are formed through public opinion. He used case studies and observation to understand social processes and organization.

2. CHARLES HORTON COOLEY
AMERICAN (1864-1929)
 Symbolic Interactionist Theorist.
 We develop a sense of who we are in society based upon
interaction with others and how we feel other perceive us.
 The “Looking Glass Self”.

3. Born:
17 August 1864
Main interests:
Politics, economics, psychology,
sociology, social psychology
Died:
7 May 1929 (aged 65)
Ann Arbor, Michigan

4. Charles Horton Cooley was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
on August 17, 1864, to Mary Elizabeth Horton and Thomas M.
Cooley. His father was very successful in the legal field, and
with a high social status he was well respected in the
community. Thomas Cooley was the Supreme Court Judge for
the state of Michigan and was one of the first three faculty
members to start the University of Michigan Law School and
was later appointed the dean at the law school from 1859-
1884.

5. CONT....
Charles Horton Cooley was an American sociologist.
He studied and went on to teach economics and
sociology at the University of Michigan, and he was a
founding member and the eighth president of
the American Sociological Association. He is perhaps
best known for his concept of the looking glass self,
which is the concept that a person's self grows out of
society's interpersonal interactions and the perceptions of
others.

6. CHARLES HORTON COOLEY:
Social Psychologist
(1864-1929)
 Looking Glass Self
 Primary Groups
 Secondary Groups
 Social Structure

7. COOLEY’S PERSPECTIVE
Social Psychologist. Charles Cooley’s work is based on
a social-psychological view of the world. Cooley
recognized the individual potential to both adjust and
control life. Compare to earlier sociological perspectives,
Cooley emphasized the importance of the growth of
rationality, or growth of symbolic interaction. Cooley
focused on qualitative data in order to recognize the
implications of social relationships and behavior.

8. THE LOOKING GLASS SELF
Cooley discusses in his book, Human Nature and the
Social Order, the concept of “I.” The feeling of self,
Cooley argues, is socially constructed, and other
determines his concept of “the looking glass self.”
Cooley discusses how throughout life, people attempt to
develop a sense of “I,” and this sense of the “I” is
developed through the communication with other
individuals. Cooley suggests that the “I” cannot exist
without the “You,” and the “He” cannot exist without the
“They.”

9. CONT…..
People, Cooley discusses, are actors in society.
The interactions between these actors and the people
who are in the actors’ “Primary Groups” ultimately
develop a sense of self for the actor. In order to create
this sense of self, actor study and monitor the responses
the actor receives to different behaviors and choose to
act in a certain way in response to these reactions.

10. Cont…..
Cooley breaks down the concept of the looking-glass self into
three concepts. First, the person imagines how he or she
appears to those around him or her. The self is focused not on
what we perceive ourselves to look like, but rather what other
think of us. We need to imagine how others perceive us
because it is not enough to imagine ourselves. There must be
a need to be in other people’s shoes in order to look at
ourselves from their perspective.
Second, the person determines how they perceive
others have judged their appearance. Then we seek to how
they feel about us. Do they like me or not? Do I look okay to
them? Am I acting appropriately?

11. CONT…..
Finally, the person cultivates feelings about
himself or herself by the way they have perceived
people judge them-the responses either shame or
pride. Others, then, become the “looking glasses”
that people see themselves reflected

12. PRIMARY GROUPS:
Cooley emphasized the importance of primary group in
the development of the individual. Cooley suggests that the
more a group associates with one another (time), the more the
group comes together (frequency), and the more the group
reveals to one another (intimacy), the more the group is to
become a primary group.
Primary group, according to Cooley, were “characterized
by those face-to-face association and cooperation”. The
interaction the individual has with primary group ultimately
help shape the person’s “social nature” and an individual’s
ideals. An individual’s intimate association with a primary
group combines many individualities in a “common whole.”

13. SECONDARY GROUPS:
Cooley suggests that time, frequency of contact
and intimacy, determine the type of group. The less time
the group spends together, the less contact and the less
interaction, the more they become a secondary group.
In other words, “a secondary group is one where the
relationship between more professional, distant, cool
and contractual. Example of secondary group can be
found in the workplace, classroom and other
professional settings.

14. SOCIAL STRUCTURE:
Cooley was one of the earliest sociologists to attempt to
define an institution. An institution, according to cooley, “is
simply a definite and established phase of the public mind.
Cooley further explains how institutions are formed from the
“nature of public opinion” through various customs and
symbols in order for the institution to have an “independent
existence.” Cooley discusses how institutions are formed by
human thoughts and are created to help the “needs of human
nature.” Institutions are a mindset and action within each
individual. However, because individuals from many values
and beliefs within groups, members of a group are usually
unaware of it.

15. Cooley's methodology:
Cooley is noted for his displeasure at the divisions
within the sociological community over methodology. He
preferred an empirical, observational approach. While he
appreciated the use of statistics, he preferred case
studies: often using his own children as the subjects on
his observation.

16. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION:
Cooley formulated the crucial role of primary
groups (family, play groups and community of elders) as
the source of one's morals, sentiments, and ideals.
Primary groups are the first group of individuals one is
introduced to and are also influenced in their ideas and
beliefs. They are the result of intimate association and
corporation.

17. CONT...
"Social Organization" Cooley asks what makes up a
society. He focuses on the relationship between the
individual to the larger unity of the society. He viewed
society and the individual as one since they cannot exist
without one another. Where the society has a strong
impact on the individual behaviour and vice versa.

18. CONT...
Social process:
Cooley's last major work, Social Process (1918)
emphasized the non-rational, tentative nature of social
organization and the significance of social
competition. Social Process was more of an essay
based work that expressed Cooley's social theories. It
was more philosophical than sociological. He interpreted
modern difficulties as the clash of primary group values
(love, ambition, loyalty) and institutional values
impersonal ideologies such as progress
or Protestantism.

19. CONT...
As societies try to cope with their difficulties,
they adjust these two kinds of values to one
another as best they can. Cooley also mentions the
idea of heroes and hero worshiping. He believed
that heroes were an aide or a servant to the
internalization of social norms because they
represent and serve as an example to reinforce
social values.