Mead's theory of the social origin of reflective consciousness¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 1 study (1 theoretical), q1 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article reconstructs Mead's central claim that reflective consciousness — both self-consciousness and conceptual thought — is not an original endowment but emerges within social interaction. Mead grounds this in a behavioral conception of meaning, in which the meaning of an object "is derived entirely from our reaction upon it, or, in other words, our use of it". Because cooperation requires readjusting conduct as others respond, our own attitudes become objects of attention: "our social interaction, precedes and produces our (reflective) self-consciousness". The article presents this as the intersubjective foundation from which Mead's educational theory follows.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• A conception of social interaction as coordinated action that does not presuppose self-conscious individuals, so that consciousness can be explained as its product rather than its presupposition

Constraints¶

• The article notes Mead's account of becoming aware of the meaning of one's own gestures via the vocal gesture is problematic, since his remarks on this issue do not add up to one consistent account

Target Learners¶

• graduate students of philosophy and education

Target Learning Objectives¶

• understanding the social origin of self-consciousness and conceptual thought

Claims¶

• In Mead's lectures, meanings grow out of social intercourse and the child constructs meanings only in social process [+W]
• Mead holds that a method of thought cannot be transferred but must be gained through the learner's own abstractions [+W]

Related Theories¶

• Mead's social conception of education recognizing both the child and society
• Mead's three phases of the act: emotional, aesthetic, and intellectual
• Dewey's five-phase reflective cycle of thought
• Schon's knowing-in-action and the distinction between reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action

Examples¶

• Create social situations in which meaning arises through the learner's own response
• Organize education around the child's response to material rather than the material provided by elders
• Emphasize cooperation and communication to train students' cooperative consciousness

Key Sources¶

• Biesta, Gert J. J. (1997). George Herbert Mead's Lectures on Philosophy of Education at the University of Chicago (1910-1911). Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED422199