Charles Cooley

American sociologist (1864-1929) · United States · Academics · Died at 64

Charles Cooley is read about 100 times a day, in 30 languages.

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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.

Academics Academic Economics United States Americas 19th Century

A life in dates

1929Died8 May 19291927“Society is an interweaving and interworking of mental selves.”In their wordsCharles Cooley (1927). Life and the Student: Roadside Notes on Human Nature, Society, and Letters. p. 200Read the whole statement

1902“SOCIETY and the Individual" is really the subject of this whole book, and not merely of Chapter One.”In their wordsp. 1; Lead paragraphRead the whole statement

“A separate individual is an abstraction unknown to experience, and so likewise is society when regarded as something apart from individuals.”In their wordsp. 36Read the whole statement

“How is a man to find where he belongs in life? The more original he is, the less likely is he to find his place prepared for him.”In their wordsp. 111Read the whole statement

“Strong joy and grief depend upon the treatment this rudimentary social self receives.”In their wordsp. p. 166Read the whole statement

“The group self or "we" is simply an "I" which includes other persons.”In their wordsp. 209Read the whole statement

1864Born17 August 1864

Also in Deutsch

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CharlesCooley

In their own words 10

Charles Cooley

10 statements, newest first

Society is an interweaving and interworking of mental selves.
1927, Charles Cooley (1927). Life and the Student: Roadside Notes on Human Nature, Society, and Letters. p. 200, Own words
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.
1922, p. 184-5 (1922), Own words
SOCIETY and the Individual" is really the subject of this whole book, and not merely of Chapter One.
1902, p. 1; Lead paragraph, Own words

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About this person

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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United States

Academics from the United States 6

Claudine Gay54.1

Daniel J. Bernstein54.1

James McKeen Cattell54.1

Paul Lazarsfeld54.1

Deirdre McCloskey54.1

Vladimir Voevodsky54.1

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