Sociology I / Culture, Socialisation and Education
Practice question · Fill in the blanks

Complete the account of Mead’s development of the self.

Mead described a ______ stage in which a child takes one role at a time, followed by a ______ stage in which several roles must be coordinated at once. Internalising the standpoint of the community as a whole produces what he called the ______ other. The self as seen from that standpoint he called the "me", and the spontaneous response to it the "______".

Word bank: play · game · generalised · I · mirror · we

Hints
  1. One stage is a child alone being a doctor; the other is a child in a team who must anticipate everyone’s position.
  2. The last blank is a single letter.
Show the answer

Mead described a play stage in which a child takes one role at a time, followed by a game stage in which several roles must be coordinated at once. Internalising the standpoint of the community as a whole produces what he called the generalised other. The self as seen from that standpoint he called the "me", and the spontaneous response to it the "I".

Why

The move from the play stage to the game stage is the move from one perspective to a system of them, and it is why Mead thought organised games matter developmentally. A child playing shortstop must hold in mind what every other position expects, which is a rehearsal for holding in mind what a whole society expects.

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