4.5a George Herbert Mead’s Role-Taking and the Development of the Self
Role-Taking Theory
According to George Herbert Mead (1934), people develop a sense of self through role-taking. The self develops alongside the ability to take on the role of others. Mead’s role-taking theory lays out how individuals gain the ability to understand the perspective of others. These stages include the play and the game stage and occur during childhood development.
During the play stage, children learn how to take the perspective of specific individuals. Children in this stage can pretend to be a specific person who is influential in their life, such as a parent, teacher, or someone else with whom the child spends a lot of time. This person is a significant other. A child’s portrayal of home when playing “house” thus reflects the home they know. If their home includes mom, grandma, and an older brother, their pretend house likely consists of these people, too.
Photo 4.16
A Child Plays Doctor During the Play Stage
The game stage occurs as play becomes more complex (Huebner, 2022). Children can now play games that involve strategy (like checkers) or teamwork (like baseball). During the game stage, children learn how to take the perspective of multiple others. That is, they can take the view of the generalized other. The generalized other refers to the group’s perspective rather than the viewpoint of specific individuals making up the group. For example, a child who makes a mistake playing soccer may interpret their mistake as “letting the team down” instead of letting individual team members down.
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A Child Expresses Disappointment During the Game Stage
“I” and “Me”
Only when a person can take on the view of the generalized other within a community can they develop a self (Ritzer, 2021). To have a self means that they understand the perspectives of others and the expectations placed on them by the group. People have multiple selves because they belong to many groups. Each person’s set of selves makes them unique from other people.
Mead viewed the phases of the development of the self as the “I” and the “me.” A person’s “me” is the internalization of the expectations others have for them. The “I” is how the person responds to those expectations (such as through conformity). In turn, the “I” is the self fully realized.