Sociological Perspectives, Concepts, And Theories For Developing Self-Awareness

Expanded ideas

The sociologists gave broadened different psychological theories and concepts of self-development that can help to examine and evaluate the roles of social interaction and society in developing self-awareness. George Mead and Charles Cooley have contributed to the sociological understanding of self-development. From the perspectives of classical sociology, the self can be defined as a collection of various perceptions such as interactionist perspectives and others (Bykov, 2019). The main three sociological perspectives are conflict perspectives, symbolic interactionism, and structural functionalism. On the other hand, sociological theories can be determined as the supposition that generally intends to analyze, explain and consider different objects of the social reality from sociological perspectives to substantiate and organize sociological knowledge (Scannell & Gifford, 2017). This paper will focus more on sociological concepts, perspectives, and theories that can help to develop self-awareness as a chosen topic.

Socialization is known as a method or process where we can learn how to become competent members of a team and develop self-awareness (Kurylo, Savchenko & Karaman, 2020). One of the popular physicians, Sigmund Freud proposed a model which is known as "Freud's theory of personality development" and according to this theory, basic biological instinct combines with different societal aspects to shape personality. Freud also stated that our minds consist of three major parts and those are the ego, the superego, and identity. If any problem arises in one of these aspects then, it may lead to social and personal problems. The famous sociologist Herbert Mead had introduced a model which is known as "Mead's theory of social behaviorism". According to this model or sociological theory, we create self-images in our minds through interaction with other people. Herbert Mead also argued that the self is the most important part of the personality of a person consisting of “self-image” and “self-awareness” (Abbott, 2020). Mead rejected the notions of Freud that personality can be defined by the biological drive and social experiences consist of "the exchange of symbols". Herbert Mead highlights especially the use of different symbols and language to convey inner expressions. Realizing the roles and responsibilities of other people results in the development of self-awareness. Another sociologist Horton Cooley proposed a model, named “Cooley’s theory of the looking-glass self” and according to this theory, we develop our self-concepts by observing and evaluating how we are being perceived by other people.

The structural functionalism approach views the society as one of the complex systems that helps to explain the importance and necessity of the social structure, different patterns of the social behaviors, and others (Wellstead, Howlett & Rayner, 2017). This approach focuses more on the individual interaction in a society and it views society as an interconnected and complex machine. Symbolic interaction perspective can be defined as micro or individual-level approach. In this approach, the societies are mainly viewed as ever-changing and ongoing events (Behnia, 2021). The main thing in this approach is exchange and communication of several ideas by using various symbols. Symbolic interaction helps to understand the relationship between society and humans. Symbolic approaches to knowledge processing and representation use names to define the meaning of the represented knowledge (Umanailo, 2019). Represented knowledge can be explained by classes, methods, relations, attributes, and others. On the other hand, conflict perspectives can be determined as a social science that highlights the material or political inequality of social groups (Aboobaker & Edward, 2020). According to this social perspective, the political and economic structures of the society develop conflicts, inequalities, and social divisions.

Conclusion

I am being exposed to poverty, racial tension, robberies, and poverty and the above sociological perspectives and theories will help to develop self-awareness. It will help me to make better decisions and also help to grow my self-confidence. These theories and perspectives help us to realize several things from different perspectives. It also helps to be free from biases and assumptions and build better relationships. Self-awareness is included with the abilities to empathize with and understand others, especially people from different cultural backgrounds. Being aware of different characters, feelings, traits, and motives of self helps to lead to psychological states of self-awareness. The psychological perspectives and theories provide an improved framework for all counselors and therapists to interpret the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of the clients and also help them to navigate the journey of a customer from the diagnosis stage to the post-treatment stage (Leslie, 2019). All sociological theories are integral parts therapeutic process. There are many counseling approaches and the counselors have to decide the most suitable counseling process based on the behaviors and attributes of the clients. The rehabilitation counselors work with an individual who has physical and mental disabilities. These counselors help those people to improve skills by achieving more knowledge and skills that also help them to live independently. According to different sociological perspectives, mental illnesses develop when the symptoms are imputed and molded by societal reactions into an organized and stable social role. Sociology is all about social behaviors and it can be defined as a study of the individual mind and individual behavior. The main purpose of the counseling process is to assess and clarify present problems or situations, identify treatment goals, and also to design and implement interventions.

I can say that different barriers or challenges are there in developing a counseling relationship with people from different cultural backgrounds. Language is one of the main barriers that can make several challenges to develop cross-cultural relationships. Lack of cultural awareness and knowledge among the counselors is another barrier. The counselors must possess a deep knowledge of the attitudes, beliefs, norms, and behaviors of people from different cultural backgrounds. Racial identities have been identified while examining the development of cross-cultural relationships. The theory of racial identity refers to the "racial self-conception" as well as the values, attitudes, and beliefs of an individual to other groups (Mathews et al., 2020). For eliminating all of these challenges, multicultural training for different counseling approaches is needed. The counselors have to respect and accommodate differences in attitudes, values, and opinions of the people from different cultures. Accounting for the values and backgrounds of the customers or people helps to make an effective treatment process.

References

Conclusion

From the above paper, it can be concluded that there are different types of sociological theories and perspectives that can help me to develop self-awareness. Self-awareness is actually a psychological state by which one can focus more on his feelings, traits, and attributes. The sociological theories are also important in a workplace as the leaders or managers who can grow self-awareness are able to persuade, motivate and adapt their teams for achieving greater outcomes. Being aware of different actions and thoughts our emotional responses to this world enable our minds to make accurate thoughts. When metacognition and accuracy come into the action, the reactionary parts become less prominent. All sociological perspectives and thoughts have direct impacts on counseling practices but some obstacles are also there. The cultural barrier is one of them. If the counselors possess cultural competence and awareness then, the customers will feel more engaged with the counselors. Self-awareness is significantly important because if we can realize our strengths, attributes and skills then, we will be able to embrace several changes and also to expand our territory of solidarity as we recognize all areas or domains where improvements are needed. Thus, from the above paper, it can be deduced that sociological perspectives, concepts, and theories can help me to accelerate my success and also to develop self-awareness.

References

Abbott, O. (2020). The self as the locus of morality: A comparison between Charles Taylor and George Herbert Mead's theories of the moral constitution of the self. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 50(4), 516-533. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/jtsb.12258

Aboobaker, N., & Edward, M. (2020). Collective influence of work–family conflict and work–family enrichment on turnover intention: exploring the moderating effects of individual differences. Global Business Review, 21(5), 1218-1231. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nimitha-Aboobaker/publication/335060004_Collective_Influence_of_Work-Family_Conflict_and_Work-Family_Enrichment_on_Turnover_Intention_Exploring_the_Moderating_Effects_of_Individual_Differences/links/5ea950e892851cb26763040b/Collective-Influence-of-Work-Family-Conflict-and-Work-Family-Enrichment-on-Turnover-Intention-Exploring-the-Moderating-Effects-of-Individual-Differences.pdf

Behnia, B. (2021). Role commitment and role maintenance strategies: A symbolic interactionist approach to volunteering. Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research, 12(1), 15-npp. https://anserj.ca/index.php/cjnser/article/download/370/332

Bykov, A. (2019). Rediscovering the moral: The ‘old’and ‘new’sociology of morality in the context of the behavioural sciences. Sociology, 53(1), 192-207. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0038038518783967

Kurylo, V., Savchenko, S., & Karaman, O. (2020). Aberrational Socialization as a New Type of Socialization of an Individual in Modern Information Society. Postmodern Openings/Deschideri Postmoderne, 11(1). https://web.p.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=20680236&AN=141948059&h=GjM1cV2TXrqMsAxo3GuTuL%2bsK4xkYiu9MQKlWjVTZH1p7aP03Vf0t7X1WLiKIrWCCpKvwBkW%2bmmQiAtmCc2xTA%3d%3d&crl=c&resultNs=AdminWebAuth&resultLocal=ErrCrlNotAuth&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d20680236%26AN%3d141948059

Leslie, L. M. (2019). Diversity initiative effectiveness: A typological theory of unintended consequences. Academy of Management Review, 44(3), 538-563. https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~eparker/syllabi/leslie2019diversityinitiativeeffectiveness.pdf

Mathews, C. J., Medina, M. A., Bañales, J., Pinetta, B. J., Marchand, A. D., Agi, A. C., ... & Rivas-Drake, D. (2020). Mapping the intersections of adolescents’ ethnic-racial identity and critical consciousness. Adolescent Research Review, 5(4), 363-379. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Channing-Mathews/publication/333584828_Mapping_the_Intersections_of_Adolescents'_Ethnic-Racial_Identity_and_Critical_Consciousness/links/5d091d0892851cfcc6227d80/Mapping-the-Intersections-of-Adolescents-Ethnic-Racial-Identity-and-Critical-Consciousness.pdf

Scannell, L., & Gifford, R. (2017). The experienced psychological benefits of place attachment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 51, 256-269. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert-Gifford-2/publication/315986136_The_experienced_psychological_benefits_of_place_attachment/links/5a07c93aaca272ed279e6757/The-experienced-psychological-benefits-of-place-attachment.pdf

Umanailo, M. C. B. (2019). Structure of Social Change in Industrial Society. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Riyadh (pp. 668-672). https://www.ieomsociety.org/gcc2019/papers/326.pdf

Wellstead, A., Howlett, M., & Rayner, J. (2017). Structural-functionalism redux: adaptation to climate change and the challenge of a science-driven policy agenda. Critical Policy Studies, 11(4), 391-410.https://www.sfu.ca/~howlett/documents/Wellstead%20et%20al.%20-%202016%20-%20Structural-functionalism%20redux%20adaptation%20to%20clim.pdf