Internet Exercises

Exercise 1

Collins and Makowsky observe: “In Social Organization (1909) Cooley introduced the concept of the primary group. Such an association is characterized by intimacy, face-to-face interaction, emotional warmth, and cooperation” (p. 156).

Go to http://www2.pfeiffer.edu/~lridener/DSS/Cooley/COOLW3.HTML and read Cooley’s discussion of the “primary group.” After reading this selection, answer the following questions:

1. Is the primary group based on feelings of love and harmony alone? If not, why?



2. According to the article, what is the difference between the work that the mother does at home and the work she does outside of the home? Is this difference true of the contemporary mother?



3. How is the idea of the looking-glass self intertwined with the primary group?



4. According to this article, what did Parsons mean when he said that “Cooley was the theorist of society as part of the individual self”?

Exercise 2

Collins and Makowsky observe: “In 1893, he [Mead] was awarded a recently founded chair in philosophy at the University of Chicago, where John Dewey became a colleague and personal friend. Mead taught there until his death in 1931. He exercised a tremendous influence on several generations of students, principally through his oral teaching; his publications during his life consisted of scattered articles, notes, and critical studies in various philosophical, psychological, sociological, and pedagogical journals” (p. 158).

Go to: http://www2.pfeiffer.edu/~lridener/DSS/Mead/MEADP2.HTML. Read about Mead’s experiences at the University of Chicago and answer the following questions:

1. Name some of the scholars with whom Mead worked during his tenure at the University of Chicago.



2. Did Mead prefer to write down his ideas on social reform or to talk about them?



3. What was Mead’s most popular course at the University of Chicago?



4. How did Mead characterize his own life near the time of his death?