G. H. Mead in the History of Sociological Ideas

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Filipe Carreira da
• Data de Publicação: 2006
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/22569
• topic: History of sociology; Mead, George Herbert, 1863-1931; Social Theory; Pragmatism

My aim is to discuss the history of the reception of George Herbert Mead’s ideas in sociology. After discussing the methodological debate between presentism and historicism, I address the interpretations of those responsible for Mead’s inclusion in the sociological canon: Herbert Blumer, Jürgen Habermas, and Hans Joas. In the concluding section, I as- sess these reconstructions of Mead’s thought and suggest an alternative more consistent with my initial methodological remarks. In particular, I advocate a reconstruction of Mead’s ideas that apprehends simultaneously its evolution over time and its thematic breadth. Such a historically minded reconstruction can be not only a useful corrective to possible anachronisms incurred by contemporary social theorists, but also a fruitful re- source for their theory-building endeavors. Only then can meaningful and enriching dialogue with Mead begin.