Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

George Herbert Mead: Meanings and Selves in Illness

  • Chapter
The Palgrave Handbook of Social Theory in Health, Illness and Medicine

Abstract

George Herbert Mead is widely recognised as the father of symbolic interactionism, a theoretical perspective that gave new direction to research in diverse fields of study. His dynamic theory of action based on meaning, agency and process challenged conceptions of social structures as fixed and stable and has been fruitfully used to examine facets of chronic illness, our main substantive focus here.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abraham, L.K. (1993) Mama Might Be Better Off Dead: The Failure of Health Care in Urban America. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adams, S.; Pill, R. and Jones, A. (1997) ‘Medication, Chronic Illness, and Identity: The Perspective of People with Asthma’ Social Science and Medicine 45(2): 189–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aristotle, Poetics, 6. 1450a. 15–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Athens, L. (2005) ‘Mead’s Lost Conception of Society’ Symbolic Interaction 28(3): 305–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Athens, L. (2007) ‘Mead, George Herbert (1863–1931)’ in Ritzer, G. (ed.) Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Sociology. Blackwell Publishing. Blackwell Reference Online. 22 May 2013 http://www.blackwellreference.com/subscriber/tocnode.html7id-g978140512433 l_ss1-56.

  • Becker, H.; Greer, B.; Hughes, E.C. and Strauss, A. (1961) Boys in White: Student Culture in Medical School. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belgrave, L.L. (1990) “The Relevance of Chronic Illness in the Everyday Lives of Elderly Women’ Journal of Aging and Health 2(4): 475–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blumer, H. (1969) Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. University of California Press: Berkeley, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradby, H. and Nazroo, J.Y. (2010) ‘Health, Ethnicity, and Race’ in Cockerham, W.C. (ed.) The New Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology. Blackwell: West Sussex, UK. pp. 113–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bury, M. (1982) ‘Chronic Illness as Biographical Disruption’ Sociology of Health and Illness 4(2): 167–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camcaburu, D. and Pierret, J. (1995) ‘From Biographical Disruption to Biographical Reinforcement: The Case of HIV-Positive Men’ Sociology of Health and Illness 17(1): 65–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charmaz, K. (1980) The Social Reality of Death. Addison-Wesley: Reading, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charmaz, K. (1983) ‘Loss of Self: A Fundamental Form of Suffering in the Chronically 111’ Sociology of Health and Illness 5(2): 168–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charmaz, K. (1987) ‘Struggling for a Self: Identity Levels of the Chronically 111’ in Conrad, P. and Roth, J. (eds.) Research in the Sociology of Health Care, The Experience of Chronic Illness 6. JAI Press: Greenwich, CT. pp. 283–321.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charmaz, K. (1991) Good Days, Bad Days: The Self in Chronic Illness and Time. Rutgers University Press: New Brunswick, NT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charmaz, K. (1995) “The Body, Identity and Self The Sociological Quarterly 36: 657–680.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chaimaz, K. (2005) ‘Grounded Theory in the 21st Century: Applications for Advancing Social Justice Studies’ in Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y.E. (eds.) Handbook of Qualitative Research. Third edition. Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA. pp. 507–535.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charmaz, K. (2011) ‘A Constructivist Grounded Theory Analysis of Losing and Regaining a Valued Self in Wertz, F.J.; Charmaz, K.; McMullen, L.J.; Josselson, R.; Anderson, R. and McSpadden, E. (eds.) Five Ways of Doing Qualitative Analysis: Phenomenological Psychology, Grounded Theory, Discourse Analysis, Narrative Research, and Intuitive Inquiry. Guilford: New York. pp. 165–204.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ciambrone, D. (2001) ‘Illness and Other Assaults on Self: The Relative Impact of HIV/AIDS on Women’s Lives’ Sociology of Health and Illness 23 (4):517–540.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collyer, F.M. (2012) Mapping the Sociology of Health and Medicine: America, Britain and Australia Compared. Palgrave Macmillan: Houndmills, Basingstoke.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Conrad, P. (1987) ‘The Experience of Illness: Recent and New Directions’ in Roth, JA and Conrad, P. (eds.) Research in the Sociology of Health Care: The Experience and Management of Chronic Illness 6. JAI: Greenwich, CT pp. 1–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corbin, J.M. and Strauss, A. (1987) ‘Conrad, P. (eds.) Research in the Sociology of Health Care 6: The Experience of Chronic Illness. JAI Press: Greenwich, CT pp. 249–281.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corbin, J.M. and Strauss, A. (1988) Unending Work and Care: Managing Chronic Illness at Home. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cornwall, J. (1984) Hard-Earned Lives: Accounts of Health and Illness from East London. Tavistock: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daanen, P. and Sammut, G. (2012) ‘G.H. Mead and Knowing How to Act: Practical Meaning, Routine Interaction, and the Theory of Interobjectivity’ Theory and Psychology 22(5):556–571.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, F. (1963) Passage through Crisis: Polio Victims and Their Families. Bobbs-Merrill: Indianapolis, IN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dodds, A.E.; Lawrence, JA. and Valsiner, J. (1997) ‘The Personal and the Social’ Theory and Psychology 7(4):483–503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fagerhaugh, S. (1975) ‘Getting around with Emphysema’ in Strauss, A.L. (ed.) Chronic Illness and the Quality of Life. Mosby: St Louis, MO. pp. 99–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freidson, E. (1970) Profession of Medicine: A Study of the Sociology of Applied Knowledge. Harper and Row: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. (1979) Central Problems in Social Theory. Macmillan: London.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gisquet, E. (2008) ‘Cerebral Implants and Parkinson’s Disease: A Unique Form of Biographical Disruption’ Social Science and Medicine 67(11): 1847–1851.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glaser, B.G. and Strauss, A.L. (1965) Awareness of Dying. Aldine: Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glaser, B.G. and Strauss, A.L. (1968) Time for Dying. Aldine: Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinojosa, R.; Boylstein, C; Rittman, M.; Hinojosa, M.S. and Faircloth, CA. (2008) ‘Constructions of Continuity after a Stroke’ Symbolic Interaction 31(2): 205–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hubbard, G.; Kidd, L. and Kearney, N. (2010) ‘Disrupted Lives and Threats to Identity: The Experiences of People with Colorectal Cancer within the First Year Following Diagnosis’ Health 14(2): 131–146.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huebner, D.R. (2012) ‘The Construction of Mind, Self, and Society: The Social Process Behind G.H. Mead’s Social Psychology’ of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 48(2):134–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joas, H. (1985) G.H. Mead: A Contemporary Re-Examination of His Thought. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joas, H. (1997) ‘George Herbert Mead and the Renaissance of American Pragmatism in Social Theory’ in Camic, S. (ed.) Reclaiming the Sociological Classics: The State of the Scholarship. Blackwell: Maiden, MA. pp. 262–281.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katovich, M.A. and Maines, D.R. (2003) ‘Society’ in Reynolds,and Herman-Kinney (eds.) Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism. AltaMira: Walnut Creek, CA. pp. 289–306.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kawachi, I. (2010) ‘Social Capital and Health’ in Bird, C.E.; Conrad, P.; Fremont, A.M. and Timmermans, S. (eds.) Handbook of Medical Sociology. Sixth edition. Vanderbilt University: Nashville, TN. pp. 18–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lahelma, E. (2010) ‘Health and Social Stratification’ in Cockerham, W.C. (ed.) The New Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology. Blackwell: West Sussex, UK. pp. 71–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawton, J. (2003) ‘Lay Experiences of Health and Illness: Past Research and Future Agendas’ Sociology of Health and Illness 25(3):23–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Link, B. and Phelan, J. (2010) ‘Social Conditions as Fundamental Causes of Health Inequalities’ in Bird, C.E.; Conrad, P.; Fremont, A.M. and Timmermans, S. (eds.) Handbook of Medical Sociology. Sixth edition. Vanderbilt University: Nashville, TN. pp. 3–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Locock, L.; Ziebland, S. and Dumelow, C. (2009) ‘Biographical Disruption, Abruption and Repair in the Context of Motor Neurone Disease’ Sociology of Health and Illness 31(7): 1043–1058.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lombardo, A.P. (2004) ‘Anatomy of Fear: Mead’s Theory of the Past and the Experience of the HIV/AIDS “Wonied Well” ‘Symbolic Interaction 27(4):531–548.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maines, D.R.; Sugrue, N. and Katovich, M. (1983) ‘The Sociological Import of G. H. Mead’s Theory of The Past’ American Sociological Review 48(2):161–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, J. (2005) ‘Perspectival Selves in Interaction with Others: Re-Reading G.H. Mead’s Social Psychology’ Journal for the Theory of Social behavior 35(3):232–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mead, G.H. (1932) The Philosophy of the Present. A.E. Murphy, ed. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mead, G.H. (1934) Mind, Self and Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist. C.W. Morris, ed. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mead, G.H. (1938) The Philosophy of the Act. C.W. Morris, (ed.) University of Chicago Press: Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mead, H.C.A. and Mead, I.T (1938) ‘Biographical Notes’in G.H. Mead (ed.) The Philosophy of the Act. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, pp. xxv-xxix.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meltzer, B.N.; Petras, J.W. and Reynolds, L.T. (1975) Symbolic Interactionism: Genesis, Varieties and Criticism. Routledge and Kegan Paul: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, C.W. (1938) ‘Preface’ in Mead, G.H. Mind, Self, and Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, pp. v-vi

    Google Scholar 

  • Omran, A.R. (1971) ‘The Epidemiologic Transition: A Theory of the Epidemiology of Population Change’ Mübank Memorial Fund Quarterly 49(4):509–538.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Omran, A.R. (2005) ‘The Epidemiologic Transition: A Theory of the Epidemiology of Population Change’ Milbank Quarterly 83(4):731–757.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, Talcott (1951) The Social System. Free Press: Glencoe, IL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierret, J. (2003) ‘The Illness Experience: State of Knowledge and Perspectives for Research’ Sociology of Health and Illness 25(3):4–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pierret, J. (2007) ‘An Analysis over Time (1990–2000) of the Experiences of Living with HIV Social Science and Medicine 65(8): 1595–1605.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Puddephatt, A. (2009) ‘The Search for Meaning: Revisiting Herbert Blumer’s Interpretation of G.H. Mead’ American Sociologist 40:89–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prus, R. (2003) ‘Ancient Forerunners’ in Reynolds, L.T. and Herman-Kinney (eds.) Handbook of Symbolic Inter actionism. AltaMira: Walnut Creek, CA. pp. 19–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramahi, T.; Khawaja, M.; Abu-Rmeileh, N. and Abdulrahim, S. (2010) ‘Socio-economic Disparities in Heart Disease in the Republic of Lebanon: Findings from a Population-Based Study’ Heart Asia 2(l):67–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reif, L. (1975) ‘Ulcerative Colitis: Strategies for Managing Life’ in Strauss, A.L. and Glaser, B. (eds.) Chronic Illness and the Quality of Life. Mosby: St. Louis, pp. 81–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, L.T. (2003a) ‘Intellectual Precursors’ in Reynolds, L.T. and Herman-Kinney (eds.) Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism. AltaMira: Walnut Creek, CA. pp. 39–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, L.T. (2003b) ‘Early Representatives’in Reynolds, L.T. and Herman-Kinney (eds.) Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism. AltaMira: Walnut Creek, CA. pp. 59–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roth, J.A. (1963) Timetables: Structuring the Passage of Time in Hospital Treatment and Other Careers. Bobbs-Memll: Indianapolis, IN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, J.W. and Conrad, P. (1980) ‘In the Closet with Illness: Epilepsy, Stigma Potential Information Control’ Social Problems 28(l):32–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, J. W. and Conrad, P. (1983) Having Epilepsy: TheExperience and Control of Illness. Temple University Press: Philadelphia, PA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwalbe, M.; Godwin, S.; Holden, D.; Schrock, D.; Thompson, S. and Wolkomir, M. (2000) ‘Generic Processes in the Reproduction of Inequality: An Interactionist Analysis’ Social Forces 79(2):419–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silva, F.C. and Vieira, M.B. (2011) ‘Books and Canon Building in Sociology: The Case of Mind, Self, and Society’ Journal of Classical Sociology 11(4):3 56–3 77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snow, D.A. (2002) ‘Extending and Broadening Blumer’s Conceptualization of Symbolic Interactionism’ Symbolic Interaction 25(4):571–575.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, A.L. and Glaser, B. (1975) Chronic illness and the Quality of Life. Mosby: St Louis, MO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, A.L.; Corbin, J.M.; Fagerhaugh, S.; Glaser, B.G.; Maines, D.; Suczek, B. and Wiener, CL. (1984) Chronic Illness and the Quality of Life. Second edition. Mosby: St Louis, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, W.I. and Thomas, D.S. (1928) The Child in America: Behavior Problems and Programs. Knopf: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weigert, A.J. and Gecas, V. (2003)’ self in Reynolds, L.T. and Herman-Kinney (eds.) Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism. AltaMira: Walnut Creek, CA. pp. 267–288.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weisz, G. and Olszynko-gryn, J. (2010) ‘The Theory of Epidemiologic Transition: The Origins of a Citation Classic’ Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 65(3):287-32ó.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, S. (2000) ‘Chronic Illness as Biographical Disruption or Biographical Disruption as Chronic Illness? Reflections on a Core Concept’ Sociology of Health and Illness 22(l):40–67.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sonoma State University, USA

    Kathy Charmaz (Professor of Sociology)

Authors
  1. Linda Liska Belgrave
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kathy Charmaz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sydney, Australia

    Fran Collyer (Associate Professor) (Associate Professor)

Copyright information

© 2015 Linda Liska Belgrave and Kathy Charmai

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Belgrave, L.L., Charmaz, K. (2015). George Herbert Mead: Meanings and Selves in Illness. In: Collyer, F. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Social Theory in Health, Illness and Medicine. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137355621_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation