This book is divided into four chapters. Because the content is complicated and obscure, I only read and understand the fourth chapter "society" in detail, hoping to have a general understanding of Meade's theory on society. The main scope of the first three chapters is the viewpoint, mind and self of social behaviorism. Although the social category mainly explained in the fourth chapter is inevitably related to other chapters, it still has its relatively independent content. Below I will introduce some viewpoints and put forward my own understanding.
Starting from the foundation of human society, the part of society is divided into humans and insects, and humans and vertebrates. Before making a comparison, Meade reiterated his view that society exists before mind and self. The study of insect physiology found that the basis of social division of labor of insects is their physiological differentiation, which hardly exists in human society. The fundamental difference between insect society and human society is that gesture communication between insects is unconscious, but only human beings are conscious in communication, and human beings influence others and themselves in communication. Although vertebrates have no connection with physiological differentiation, their aggregation is more of an "instinctive connection" and a nature of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages. Generally speaking, the intelligence possessed by human beings is not based on physiological differentiation, nor on conformity instinct, but on the development achieved through social processes.
Next, he talked about organisms, isomers and the environment. The relationship between biology and environment is reflected in the relationship between isomers of * * * and their environment. On the basis of partially acknowledging the scientific viewpoint of the earth's life history, Meade thinks that the changes organized by an organism in its chosen environment according to its own actions are a more interesting research object. That is to say, in a sense, the environment is selected by organisms themselves, and tools represented by hands are used to create a more suitable environment. The isomer of * * * composed by a single organism creates its environment with the help of its sensitivity to the environment.
In addition to the material environment, human survival can not be separated from the social environment, and people's thoughts and exchanges are of great significance in society. Meade believes that the basic principle of human social organization is "the principle of communication including the participation of others". This principle requires others to appear in themselves, let others participate in themselves, and realize self-awareness through others. In the process of interacting with others, individuals need to play the role they need to play in a specific environment, and this role-playing is also of great significance to themselves. Individuals are inevitably controlled by society in society. The isomorphism of personal life often has two organizational forms. One is isomorphic with self-consciousness, and the individual must substitute himself into the isomorphic attitude. On the contrary, individuals do not need to substitute themselves into this relationship. The thinking generated in the process of communication is the product of the exchange of attitudes between individuals, which cannot be completed alone.
The * * * isomorphism mentioned in the previous paragraph exists widely in life, and the * * * isomorphism that all members treat a specific situation is called * * * isomorphism system. The existence of the system enables each individual member to express his behavior appropriately by adopting other people's attitudes towards these activities. However, because the individuals in the same body are different, their institutionalized reactions are also different. Although the attitude of the same body makes the individual express a certain attitude, the attitude of the individual itself is little affected by the system. * * * Homographs are different in size, and everyone must belong to many different * * * homographs. For example, a country can also be regarded as * * * isomorphic, and individuals have accepted the * * * isomorphic system while receiving education. The answer to the question whether we belong to a larger * * * body depends on whether our behavior can cause a reaction in the * * * body and whether its reaction can be reflected in our own behavior.
As far as my reading and understanding are concerned, Meade actually regards society as a constitutive phenomenon, which is the result of the interaction between individuals. Because of this, society can be transformed and reorganized in the process of the activities of mind and self. However, due to the unpredictability of individuals, he used the integration of subject and object in social activities to illustrate the uncertainty of action. Mind, self and society are often intertwined and influenced on many issues, and the discussion of any one of them can not be separated from the separate discussion of the other two.
Generally speaking, this sociological book puts forward many interesting ideas and demonstrates them step by step according to its own logic. This book discusses how human beings appear in the process of social communication, and emphasizes how the mind and self act on an organism under the premise of the existence of social structure. He adopted the method of qualitative analysis, paying attention to the study of the significance of social behavior and the internal experience of individuals, mainly through description and explanation to study people's psychology. In the process of reading, we need to pay great attention to understand his deductive process. However, due to the arrangement of notes, the connection between plates is not close enough, and the theme switching is sometimes abrupt. In the research, there is a feeling that people and other animals are considered on the same level, which makes me very confused. In any case, as one of the pioneering works of symbolic interaction theory, Meade's thought has a very important guiding and enlightening effect on future research.