Charles Horton Cooley Essay

Charles Horton Cooley is a great sociologist who has contributed significantly to the field of sociology. He was born in Michigan State where he studied and work. He was a professor in the University of Michigan and lived near the university with his wife and three children. Looking glass self was one of his greatest works. The paper evaluates some of the sociologist major papers in the field of sociology and economics. The contributions to the conflicts theory and functionalism theory will also be evaluated in the paper. Charles Horton Cooley died in 1929 in the same state he was born of cancer. Charles Horton Cooley born in 1864 was the forth born in a family of six siblings. His mother was Mary Elizabeth and his father was Thomas Cooley. The family lived in Ann Arbor in Michigan State. He attended the University of Michigan in 1887 where after graduating he returned to pursue mechanical engineering and later political economics. In 1889, he was employed by the government. His first job was in the civil service commission. His second job was in the census bureau. He graduated with a master in political economics which was his major and sociology his minor. In the fall of 1892, Charles Horton Cooley became a lecturer in the University of Michigan where he taught economics and sociology. After writing a thesis on the theory of transportation in economics, Charles Horton Cooley was awarded a PhD in 1894. In the same year, Cooley began teaching sociology in the university.

In 1890 Cooley got married to Elsie Jones. She was the daughter of a famous medical professor at the same university where he was studying. His marriage enabled him to concentrate on his scholarly work. The couple differed in their nature as the wife was highly cultivated and out going. The couple had three children and lived a short distance from the University of Michigan. The two girls and a boy were regularly used by their father in his studies like the genesis and growth of self studies. This enabled him to work round the clock as when he was not observing himself, he did not have to leave home to observe...

...

During his life time, Cooley contributed significantly to the field of sociology and economics. He wrote many papers and can be considered as one of America's great sociologist. He was also among the founding members of the American Sociological Associations and was the eighth president of the association.
Colley's Contributions

There was a division in the sociological community over the methodology used by sociologist. Cooley was not impressed with the division and openly preferred the use of empirical and observational approach over other methodologies used by the sociologists. He preferred case studies over the use of statistics. He used his three children as subjects of his observation in most of his work. His first major paper was in economic theory. The paper was the theory of transportation which concluded that towns and major cities are located where transport routes converge. In 1902, he used George Herbert interpretation of symbolic ground of self. The paper evaluates how normal and social participation is influenced by social response (Landon 1960).

In 1909, he wrote the book called social organization. In this book, he talks about the influence of primary groups on the morals of an individual. Such primary groups include the family and groupings. He also writes that the impact of primary groups is significant in that people tend to use primary ideals on complex associations. In his conclusion, he notes that class difference has different contribution to the society.

Social process was among the last major papers written by Cooley. The paper was majorly on the significance of social competition and cautious nature of social organization. His reference was modern difficulties as a result of a conflict between primary values institutional values. The society deals with difficulties by adjusting primary and institutional values to suit he situation affecting the community.

Cooley's theories were formulated in the aim of responding to the necessities that had manifested in the sociological society. The first…

Sources Used in Documents:

References

Ju, Biung-ghi. 2010. "Individual Powers and Social Consent: An Axiomatic Approach." Social Choice and Welfare 34(4):571-596

Landon, Charles E. 1960. "Technological Progress in Transportation on the Mississippi River System." The Journal of Business (Pre-1986) 33(1):43-43

Westley, Bruce. 1976. "Setting the Political Agenda what Makes it Change?" Journal of Communication (Pre-1986) 26(2):43


Cite this Document:

"Charles Horton Cooley" (2012, June 01) Retrieved April 20, 2024, from
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/charles-horton-cooley-111186

"Charles Horton Cooley" 01 June 2012. Web.20 April. 2024. <
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/charles-horton-cooley-111186>

"Charles Horton Cooley", 01 June 2012, Accessed.20 April. 2024,
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/charles-horton-cooley-111186

Related Documents

Men, who also have tendencies to act in certain ways, come into contact with situations which stimulate some of their activities and repress others. Those who are stimulated have their growth increased'. Cooley has discussed the possible sources for these changes in conception of differentiated unities, wholes, or realms encompassing and encompassed in human social life and its situation. Cooley is of the opinion that the human social life and

During his time, studies and researches about the individual/self has been gaining popularity, for the advent of industrialization and modernism has put focus not on the changing society, but more about the changing individual. Inherent in this change is the individual's adaptation of social and technological changes -- hence the emergence of the modern man. Thus, these social changes prompted Cooley to look into the root of what he

In the self-concept, Cooley's society was able to appreciate the role that society significantly plays in creating the modern individual. Inasmuch as the individual contributes to social change, society, too, contributes to the increased individualism, rationalism and modernism of the individual of the 20th century. His researches, then, become inevitably linked to the role that society plays in influencing the modern individual. In terms of social organizations, Cooley identified a

Thus, in understanding the modern individual, researchers need to look into his/her primary group, which could reflect a lot about his beliefs, values and motivations -- specifically the individual's self-concept. Cooley's main theoretical points Integrating these concepts of looking-glass self and primary groups, the main theoretical point of Cooley is determined. As explicated earlier, his main theoretical point in conducting the looking-glass experiment was to prove that in the conception of

Social and Cultural Theory Study Guide Karl Marx Karl Marx was a prolific German social philosopher who is renowned for his exceptional theories related to modern socialism and communism. Marx strongly believed that the recent times have changed the value of man. According to Marx, people are no longer valued for who they are, but they are categorized assessing their importance and participation in the production of products/goods. In the present time,

(Causal Theories of Juvenile Delinquency: Social Perspectives) Charles Cooley in his publication Human Nature and the Social Order analyzed the personal perception of juvenile delinquents by means of the studies of children and their imaginary friends. Cooley develops his theory around the imaginary concept of looking glass self, which is considered to be a type of imaginary sociability. People introspectively imagine through the eyes of others in their social circles