Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Sociology
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Holdsworth, C.
Right arrow Articles by Morgan, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Revisiting the Generalized Other: An Exploration

Clare Holdsworth

University of Liverpool, Clare.Holdsworth{at}liv.ac.uk

David Morgan

University of Manchester, d.h.j.Morgan{at}ext.keele.ac.uk

In examining transcripts of inter views conducted as par t of an investigation of the process of leaving the parental home, we were frequently reminded of Mead's idea of `the generalized other'. This ar ticle explores the usefulness of this somewhat neglected idea. After examining the possible range of meanings suggested by this idea and affinities with other concepts (especially Bourdieu's notion of `habitus') we develop this idea through the use of three case studies taken from inter views in three different cities. We consider normative points of comparison, reflexivity and the generalized other and judgements about other people. We conclude that Mead's idea continues to have considerable usefulness, in par ticular in relation to what might be turned a recent `ethical turn' in social enquiry.

Key Words: generalized other • habitus • leaving home • moral judgements

Sociology, Vol. 41, No. 3, 401-417 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0038038507076614
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 SociologyHome page
J. Burr
Exploring Reflective Subjectivity through the Construction of the `Ethical Other' in Interview Transcripts
Sociology, April 1, 2009; 43(2): 323 - 339.
[Abstract] [PDF]