Charles Horton Cooley Is Considered

Charles Horton Cooley is considered to be an individual of multi-capacity; he was psychologist, sociologist and an educator. The element of social influence had developed significant impact on his life and perspective. He fragmented the human association into individual and group, and termed these supplementary aspects of the human perspective and approach.

Charles Horton Cooley was born on 17th of August, 1864, in a small town of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He graduated from University of Michigan in 1887, and did his majors in Mechanical Engineering, he later switched to Economics. He was successful in the exams of Civil Service Commission, and worked for government institutions, he then moved to the Census Bureau. He was also involved in teaching profession, and conducted lectures on political science, economics and sociology at the University of Michigan.

COOLEY: PERSPECTIVE and THEORIES

Charles Horton Cooley worked on different subjects; he started as an economist, and proposed the Theory of Transportation. In his theory, he concluded that cities and towns are established at the junction of the transportation routes. He was then involved in the study of relationship with reference to the individual and social processes. In his theory of Human Nature and Social Order he supported the thoughts of George Herbert Mead, and elaborated the emergence of the normal social participation in context with the social responses. He proposed a relationship between the society and its major processes, which he discussed in his book Social Organization. In the book he initially contradicted the thoughts of Sigmund Freud. Cooley stressed over the significance of the crucial role played by the primary groups. According to Cooley the composition of the primary group was based on the elements that inspire moral and emotional values, and also develop ideals. Cooley termed the society as an experimental lab, where there exists continuous coordination and relationship between the social experience and variety, which the termed as the formal institution. He observed that level of contribution towards the social development can be translated from class difference that persists within the society. (Walter, 1930)

Cooley also worked on Social Process, in which he discussed the illogical and irrelevant perspective associated with the social organization, and highlighted its significance by introducing competitive elements in the society. He termed the clash of the primary group values and institutional values as matter concern, and sought its early resolution. He stressed that society should incorporate the relevant element associated with these groups

Cooley did not changed the original form of his theory, he introduced the terms like competition and conflict to express the nature of interaction he observed in the social institutions. He spent much of his lifetime for proper understanding of the process so that an appropriate relationship can concluded with reference to the realities of the situation. He expressed his dislike towards the classification of the process, and stressed more on the analysis of the common process experienced in different level of competition.

His initial theory was based on the belief that competition and conflict are universal phenomenon and are the fundamental requirement for the society, but for the sake of larger social order it is fundamental to incorporate the element of cooperation, so that the concentration of conflict and competition can be diluted. According to his theory, larger social order should be the principal focus of the different forms of competition, therefore the social order should not eliminate the elements of competition, but instead should support the development of the system based on rules and regulations.

Cooley has developed firm basis of classification of the competition on the basis of the moral values. The levels of competitions have been categorized into higher and lower forms, and it is the understanding of the business competitors which can improve the level of competition into reformed types of competitions. This form of competition can be termed as a struggle for the achievement of certain objectives in lieu with the moral principles. Cooley has applied different terms for the illustration of the central idea of competition. He has ignored the discussion of the boundaries of the forms of competition. He has attempted to introduce terminology with variance so as to introduce versatility to the understanding of his theory. (Walter, 1930)

The three-fold necessity that has generated within the realm of the society is responsible for the different perspectives that have been transpired by Cooley. He understood that there was need to comprehend the social phenomena that was based on the e subjective mental processes of individuals, and that these subjective processes were the outcome of the society's processes. He was also aware that state of chaos and distortion generates due to the development of a social dynamic conception, which he vision as a source of adaptive innovation. He also believed that the different classes and groups within the public were able to develop informed moral control to resolve the current problems and determine the future course of activities.

He recorded that, 'society and individual denote not separable phenomena but different aspects of the same thing, for a separate individual is an abstraction unknown to experience, and so likewise is society when regarded as something apart from individuals', he proposed Mental Social Complex, which according to his understanding will exhibit the features of Looking-Glass Self. (Charles, 1966)

The imagination of how an individual might be understood by others is the founding principal of Looking Self Glass, also termed as Empathic Introspection. The theory is applicable on macro level economic issues and to an individual as well, under the macro-sociological conditions which are created over time.

He stated, 'even economic institutions could not be understood solely as a result of impersonal market forces', with reference to his social perspective he further added that, the sort of virtues, as well as of vices, that we find on the frontier: plain dealing, love of character and force, kindness, hope, hospitality and courage, further growing efficiency of the intellectual processes that would enlighten the larger public will to reach consensus'. (Charles, 1966)

Cooley is in agreement with his contemporaries with reference to the constructive change from the amalgamation of plurality among the individuals and society in the common environment that is based on the sequential relationship between the sub-processes of the society. According to Cooley, the sub-processes are based on the different factors which include sources of conflict, element of competition, the requisite models for the existence, adaptation, selection and coordination with the isolated community within an organization and the organization itself. Cooley has classified the sub-processes into element of affiliation i.e. association, separation, differences, adjustment, segregation, individualization, and socialization, based on the combination of the organization and the cooperation involved.

Cooley is convinced that process that involves the social changes occurs in a slow, gradual, continuous manner, and there are no stages associated to it. According to Cooley, the nature doesn't evolve or jump instantly; rather the phenomenon is gradual and steady. Cooley has termed, 'Cataclysmic, catastrophic changes such as revolutions are abnormal and unnatural'. He further explained that, change in human society as growth is revealed, as it is in the life cycle of the organism, in a series of stages, each continuous with and only imperceptibly different from its predecessor and successor' (Coser, 1977), if we compare the theoretical analysis of Cooley with his associates Ward, Sumner and Giddings. Ward and Summer have recommended predominantly institutional stage analysts, where as Giddings is more committed towards the development on the basis of societal stages. However, Cooley has different opinion, and has not supported the substantial concern with stages of any kind. The associates of Cooley have alluded to the concept that stages or endeavor to connect the two developmentally by intermediate stages; however Cooley has referred to primitive, tribal societies and to modern society.

Cooley's social process is based on the assumptions that mankind, humanity, the human species, or human society is appropriate social unit for the study of changes.

All men are encompassed by the generic change process, is the common belief of national sociologists. American sociologists are of the opinion that, 'the monogenetic origin of man and his essential oneness organically, psychically, morally, socially, and culturally; any less universal object of study than mankind would have appeared to them to question both the universality of their ethics and their science'. Cooley is in complete agreement to that, and according to his theories, the direction of knowledge or any other related visionary belief is secured through mankind. According to Cooley, 'comprehensive, cumulative, and apparently irreversible, it discloses a generally linear rather than cyclical course of movement' (Coser, 1977).

Cooley's model of social change is based on the understanding that existence of the reality is on the basis of the differences prevalent among the living wholes.

The social phenomena carry their own intrinsic and distinctive potentiality which is based on the social growth model. According to Cooley, there is natural tendency among the social forms to adapt so that the continuity persists, with enough provision for element of support. Cooley has quoted an example in this context, 'a vine feels its way and has a system of behavior which ensures its growth along the lines of successful experiment. 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'.