Cooley's looking-glass self and primary groups in modern society

Charles Cooley

Lasting value of Cooley's works

Cooley left two important legacies in the field of social psychology, which pertains to his study of the self in the context of the changing human society. One important legacy he left behind was reflected in his work on the concept of the looking-glass self, wherein he was able to look deeper into the inquiry of human identity. Through this work, Cooley was able to establish two important facets that he posited are the important influencers in one's identity, specifically self-concept: the private and public selves.

The second important legacy that Cooley left behind was reflected in his study on primary groups, wherein he established not only the importance of this factor in the society, but also the increasing complexity in social structure happening in modern society. Through the primary groups, Cooley made possible further inquiries into the spheres of influence that affects and ultimately, modifies human society as it was changing during Cooley's time. The concept of primary groups paved the way for further inquiries on how the modern individual relates to the modern society, and vice versa.

Putting into context these two legacies of Charles Cooley, it can be said that his research on human identity (specifically self-concept) and complex social organizations are reflective of the modern society that Cooley found himself in. As human society progressed towards the 20th century, Cooley and similar social researchers like him felt the need to redefine human society as they perceived it to be. Hence, his studies on the looking-glass self and primary groups are his contributions to this general inquiry into the emerging modern human society in the 20th century.

Testing one or two key propositions of Cooley

Testing Cooley's thesis concerning the creation and development of human identity/self-concept, it would be vital to determine whether indeed, an individual's self-concept is really composed of the private and public selves. As determined by Cooley, there seemed to be only two spheres of influence affecting the individual's identity: the self and the social environment. in-depth interviews and possibly, experimentation on the development of one's identity would adequately answer whether self-concept is indeed made up of only two spheres of influence or not. These qualitative and quantitative means in determining the creation and development of the self-concept would at least generate the desired result, which is to prove if there are more than two spheres of influence existing in the individual as s/he goes about creating, developing and reinforcing his/her self-concept.

The same research would yield the needed information to establish whether indeed, the concept of primary group is mutually exclusive to the modern individual. That is, as previously stated, there is a possibility that the individual could be equally influenced by different groups, which would indicate that the individual has more than one 'primary group' which influences his/her identity/self-concept.