United States
Charles Cooley
said
Society is an interweaving and interworking of mental selves.
— Charles Cooley (1927). Life and the Student: Roadside Notes on Human Nature, Society, and Letters. p. 200
Charles Cooley
American sociologist (1864–1929)
- Fame55.1
- Momentum2.6
- United States rank#250
Source-basedStable
- Fame55.1
- Momentum2.6
- United States rank#250
- Academics rank#31
- Wikipedia2.3K
Lived 1864–1929, aged 65United States
Summary
Updated 2026-06-09
He gave us the phrase and the idea behind it: the "looking-glass self," the notion that who you think you are is built from how others see you — or how you imagine they do.
Biography
About
Charles Horton Cooley was born August 17, 1864, the son of a Michigan Supreme Court judge. He studied and later taught economics and sociology at the University of Michigan, spending his career there. In 1905 he helped found the American Sociological Association; by 1918 he'd risen to its eighth president. His central contribution was the looking-glass self, the theory that identity forms not in isolation but through the mirror of social interaction — self-concept as a reflection of perceived judgment. He died May 7, 1929.
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In their own words
Sourced, dated quotes from Charles Cooley
Charles Cooley
said
We are ashamed to seem evasive in the presence of a straightforward man, cowardly in the presence of a brave one, gross in the eyes of a refined one, and so on.
— p. 184-5 (1922)
Charles Cooley
said
SOCIETY and the Individual" is really the subject of this whole book, and not merely of Chapter One.
— p. 1; Lead paragraph
Charles Cooley
said
The social self is simply any idea, or system of ideas, drawn from the communicative life, that the mind cherishes as its own.
— p. 17
Charles Cooley
said
A separate individual is an abstraction unknown to experience, and so likewise is society when regarded as something apart from individuals.
— p. 36
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The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.
Fame
Stable55.1
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum2.6
Historical23.7
Source confidence60.0
Completeness70.0
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- WikidataHigh confidencewikidata · wikidata.org
- WikipediaHigh confidencewikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Pantheon 2.0High confidencedatabase · pantheon.world
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