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George Herbert Mead

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible
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Abstract

George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) was an influential American pragmatist and social psychologist whose work assumed the inseparability and mutual reconstruction of human agency and the life world of persons. The exact manner of this relation is the subject of his social psychology. The harnessing of this relation with respect to human flourishing is the primary concern of his moral psychology. The former offers an explanation of how possibility emerges at the nexus of human agency and sociality. The latter offers a means of directing and adjudicating such possibility as it unfolds. In these ways, Mead is a useful guide to the possible in human conduct and life. His ideas have proved both enduring and provocative. His theories of the self, personal development, generalized others, sociality, emergence, agency, and social reconstruction continue to inspire and challenge many contemporary social theorists.

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References

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Correspondence to Jack Martin .

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Martin, J. (2020). George Herbert Mead. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_88-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_88-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-98390-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-98390-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    The possible in the life and work of George Herbert Mead
    Published:
    02 June 2022

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_88-2

  2. Original

    George Herbert Mead
    Published:
    02 March 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_88-1