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 major, albeit complex, social organization that existed in the modern society, called the primary group. As modernism promoted the idea of individualism, it became more vital for researchers to identify the spheres of influence that prevail in the minds and hearts of modern individuals. Thus, Cooley's determination of the primary group set the trend and generated the finding that, in the period of high level of individualism, there exists a social organization that still plays a major role in socially influencing the highly-individualized and -rationalized individual.

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...

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.

Bibliography

Cooley, C. Human nature and the social order. NY: Scribner's.

____. Social organization: a study of the larger mind. NY: Scribner's.

Woodward, K. (2002). Understanding identity. NY: Edward Arnold Ltd.