Society and the Adolescent Self-Image (1965) PDF
Preview Society and the Adolescent Self-Image (1965)
SOCIETY AND THE ADOLESCENT SELF-IMAGE Brought to you by | Utrecht University Library Authenticated Download Date | 6/14/18 1:03 AM Brought to you by | Utrecht University Library Authenticated Download Date | 6/14/18 1:03 AM S O C I E T Y A N D T H E A D O L E S C E N T S E L F - I M A G E > — BY MORRIS ROSENBERG PRINCETON XJNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 1965 Brought to you by | Utrecht University Library Authenticated Download Date | 6/14/18 1:03 AM Published by Princeton University Press, 1965 ALL BlCHTS RESERVED This book, in manuscript, was co-winner of the American Association for Ihe Advancement of Science Socio-PsychoIogical Prize for 1963. Printed in the United States of America by Quinn & Boden Company, Inc., Rahway, N.J. Brought to you by | Utrecht University Library Authenticated Download Date | 6/14/18 1:03 AM To Irving, Bill, and Sylvia Brought to you by | Utrecht University Library Authenticated Download Date | 6/14/18 1:03 AM Brought to you by | Utrecht University Library Authenticated Download Date | 6/14/18 1:03 AM PREFACE m ^ T HERE are few topics so fascinating both to the research investigator and the research subject as the self-image. It is distinctively characteristic of the human animal that he is able to stand outside himself and to describe, judge, and evaluate the person he is. He is at once the observer and the observed, the judge and the judged, the evaluator and the evaluated. Since the self is probably the most important thing in the world to him, the question of what he is like and how he feels about himself engrosses him deeply. This is especially true during the adolescent stage of development. This study takes as its point of departure the assumption that the self-image is central to the subjective life of the individual, largely determining his thoughts, feelings, and behavior. At first glance this topic would appear to be a purely private, personal, and idiosyncratic phenomenon. And yet it is equally plain that the individual's self-picture is not purely non-objective art, reflecting the impulses and inspiration of the creator, but is rather a more or less clear portrait based upon the information provided by his social experience. It is the nature and influence of this social experience that I have been especially interested in understanding. The child is raised in a family, whether broken or intact; he may have brothers or sisters, in varying combinations; he has parents who have certain feelings toward him. From this ferment of social interaction a self-picture begins to emerge. This family lives in a neighborhood, belongs to a social class, usually identifies with a religious group, derives from a national background. These social groupings impose on the child a characteristic style of life, set of values, and system of beliefs and ideals which covertly, imperceptibly, uninten tionally, but no less powerfully, provide the bases for self- Brought to you by | Utrecht University Library Authenticated Download Date | 6/14/18 1:04 AM PREFACE judgment With a different background the child would be different and would see himself differently. While clinical and experimental studies have taught us a great deal about the nature of the self-image, less informa tion has been available regarding the broader social experi ences which contribute to its formation. Convinced of the importance of these experiences, I undertook a survey of over 5,000 adolescents, attempting to understand how they saw themselves, how they felt about themselves, and what criteria for self-evaluation they employed. The outcome of this undertaking is reported in the following pages. In a study of this scope, the investigator must call upon the aid and cooperation of many people, and this aid was given most generously. My chief debt of gratitude is owed to Erma Jean Surman, secretary and assistant, whose intelli gence, loyalty, and diligence were unstintingly granted to this study from beginning to end. I am also grateful to Joan Praitice Collings, who succeeded in maintaining order in a research project permanently on the brink of chaos during her two years' service as assistant. My major professional debt is owed to my friends and colleagues, Melvin Kohn, Leonard I. Fearlin and Carmi Schooler. I hope they know how deeply I appreciate their generous expenditure of time and effort; they did not blunt the sharpness of their critical acuity on the grounds of warm friendship. I am also grateful to the following people who read and criticized a late draft of the manuscript: Edward A. Siifihmfln Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Sheldon Korchin, Stanley l Coopersmith, Earle Silber, and Joan Snyder. To absolve these people of any responsibility for the flaws in this report is more a reflection of truth than an expression of courtesy. Since I pledged to maintain the anonymity of the high schools, I cannot acknowledge by name Ae various school superintendents, principals, and research directors who granted permission to conduct this study and who cooper ated so generously in the collection of the data. To them, Brought to you by | Utrecht University Library Authenticated Download Date | 6/14/18 1:04 AM PREFACE to the teachers who administered the questionnaires, and to the students who completed them, my thanks are due. Margaret Browell Renfors was responsible for most of the machine tabulations, a task she handled with impressive care, accuracy, and intelligence. Several of the chapters are slightly modified versions of papers that have appeared elsewhere. Chapter 4 appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 68, July 1962, pp. 1-10 (copyright 1962 by the University of Chicago); Chap ter 7 in Sociometry, Vol. 26, March 1963, pp. 35-49; Chapter 8 in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, Vol. 1, 1962, pp. 135-152; and Chapter 10 in the Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 26, 1962, pp. 201-211. I am grateful to the University of Chicago Press, the American Sociological Association, the Pergamon Press, and the Princeton University Press, respectively, for permission to reprint this material. My thanks are also due to Harper and Row for permission to quote material from Robert R. Sears, Eleanor E. Maccoby, and Harry Levin, Patterns of Child Rearing, 1957; to the Journal of Personality for permission to quote from Andras Angyal, "A Theoretical Model for Personality Studies," Vol. 29, 1951; and to the American Sociological Association for permission to quote from Melvin L. Kohn and Eleanor E. Carroll, "Social Class and the Allocation of Parental Re sponsibilities," Sociometry, Vol. 23, 1960. MOBBIS ROSENBERG Bethesda, Maryland September 1964 Brought to you by | Utrecht University Library Authenticated Download Date | 6/14/18 1:04 AM Brought to you by | Utrecht University Library Authenticated Download Date | 6/14/18 1:04 AM
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