Charles Horton Cooley and his contributions to sociology

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 other people. 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 was the need to craft an understanding of societal facts that were the highlight of individual mental process. He found that the subjective processes were either caused or the effects of society processes. There was also the need to examine evolution of social dynamic conception which evaluates states of chaos as natural incident which created an opportunity for adaptive innovation. The last need is ensure that the people were capable of making informed moral decisions for current and future problems affecting the people. Cooley solution to the dilemma was creation of a mental social complex which he named the looking glass self. The mental social complex is formulated by understanding how ones self can be understood by another person. This theory was called the emphatic introspection theory. This theory applied to the person and the economic issues affecting the society with regards to the macro social problems that evolve with time. Cooley evaluated the economic institution as impossible to understand by evaluation of impersonal market forces. Sociological perspectives were logical towards the traditions of the society. The considered dissolution of tradition as a positive move that would result in to social growth and an intellectual process that would improve the public will (Ju 2010).

His concept of looking glass self is arguably his best work as it is accepted by psychologists' and sociologists in the modern world. The concept was build from William James's self idea where capacity reflection on own behaviour was included. According to Cooley, the views from other people greatly influence personal image. There is a relationship of how we view ourselves and how the society views us. According to his previous work, human nature and social order, self idea has three elements. Imagination of personal appearance to society is the first major element. The second element is imagination of appearance and the third element is self feeling which can be pride or any form of modification.

Contribution to the Conflict Theory and Functionalism Theory

According to the conflict theory, the laws are made by the minority of people in the society and are aimed at ensuring that their interests are protected. The laws are meant to controls the behaviour of the people in the society. In this theory, the poor are powerless and are likely to be convicted of crimes compared to the rich in the society. The crime rate among the poor is also significantly higher compared to the crime rate among the rich. This is due to the lack of opportunities among the poor to improve self. The poor do not have the skills needed to become productive thus a poor society.