Charles Horton Cooley was, according to George Herbert Mead, an idealist or mentalist for whom ‘imaginations’ and not ‘symbolic interactions’ are the ‘solid facts of society’. Contrary to Mead's critique, Cooley breaks through the Cartesian body–mind dualism in disagreement with idealism and behaviorism. His objective was to develop a theory of ‘communication’ and ‘understanding’ as the foundation of pragmatistic sociology. Communication is the decisive starting point of Cooley's and Mead's sociological theory of ‘social order’ and ‘social change’ as stages in the process of action. In conflict with each other actors must define the meaning of the objective, subjective, social and symbolic world. To overcome problems of action actors create generalized perspectives such as ‘human nature values’ (Cooley) or a ‘logical universe of discourse’ (Mead) which guarantee ‘socialization’ or ‘social order’ and ‘individualization’ at the same time.
Cooley, Charles Horton (1912) ‘Valuation as a Social Process’ , The Psychological BulletinIX: 441–451 .
2.
Cooley, Charles Horton (1913a) ‘The Institutional Character of Pecuniary Valuation’ , American Journal of SociologyXIX: 188–203 .
3.
Cooley, Charles Horton (1913b) ‘The Progress of Pecuniary Valuation’ , Quarterly Journal of EconomicsXXX: 1–21 .
4.
Cooley, Charles Horton (1963) Social Organization: A Study of the Larger Mind. New York: Schocken . (Orig. pub. 1909.)
5.
Cooley, Charles Horton (1964) Human Nature and the Social Order. New York: Schocken . (Orig. pub. 1902.)
6.
Cooley, Charles Horton (1966) Social Process. Carbondale: Southern Illinois Press . (Orig. pub. 1918.)
7.
Cooley, Charles Horton . (1969a) ‘The Theory of Transportation’, pp. 17–120 in Sociological Theory and Social Research: Selected Papers of Charles Horton Cooley, ed. Robert Cooley Angell . New York: Kelley . (Orig. pub. 1894.)
8.
Cooley, Charles Horton (1969b) ‘The Development of Sociology at Michigan’, pp. 3–16 in Sociological Theory and Social Research: Selected Papers of Charles Horton Cooley, ed. Robert Cooley Angell . New York: Kelley . (Orig. pub. 1928.)
9.
Cooley, Charles Horton (1998) On Self and Social Organization, ed. Hans-Joachim Schubert . Chicago: University of Chicago Press .
10.
Coser, Lewis (1977) ‘Charles Horton Cooley’, pp. 305–330 in Masters of Sociological Thought. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich .
11.
Farberman, Harvey A. (1970) ‘Mannheim, Cooley, and Mead: Toward a Social Theory of Mentality’ , Sociological Quarterly2: 3–13 .
12.
Farberman, Harvey A. (1985) ‘The Foundations of Symbolic Interaction: James, Cooley, and Mead’ , Studies in Symbolic InteractionSupplement 1: 13–27 .
13.
Franks, David D. and Viktor Gecas (1992) ‘Autonomy and Conformity in Cooley's Self-Theory: The Looking-Glass Self and Beyond’ , Symbolic Interaction15(1): 49–68 .
14.
Fuhrman, Ellsworth R. (1980) ‘Charles H. Cooley’, pp. 186–211 in The Sociology of Knowledge in America. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia .
15.
Gecas, Viktor and Michael L. Schwalbe (1983) ‘Beyond the Looking-Glass Self: Social Structure and Efficacy-Based Self-Esteem’ , Social Psychological Quarterly46(2): 77–88 .
16.
Hinkle, Roscoe C. (1966) ‘Introduction’, pp. xi–lxiv in Charles Horton Cooley , Social Process. Carbondale, IL and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press .
17.
Hume, David (1985) A Treatise of Human Nature, Harmondsworth: Penguin . (Orig. pub. 1739–40.)
18.
Jacobs, Glenn (1979) ‘Economy and Totality: Cooley's Theory of Pecuniary Valuation’ , Studies in Symbolic Interaction2: 39–84 .
19.
Kant, Immanuel (1787) Critique of Pure Reason, trans. Norman Kemp Smith. Electronic edition: http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Philosophy/Kant/cpr/
20.
Levin, S.M. (1941) ‘Charles Horton Cooley and the Concept of Creativeness’ , Journal of Social PhilosophyVI(3): 216–229 .
21.
Mead, George Herbert (1912) ‘The Mechanism of Social Consciousness’ , Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods9: 401–406 .
22.
Mead, George Herbert (1925) ‘The Genesis of the Self and Social Control’ , International Journal of Ethics35: 251–277 .
23.
Mead, George Herbert (1964) ‘Cooley's Contribution to American Social Thought’ (Foreword), pp. ix–xxxviii in Charles Horton Cooley Human Nature and the Social Order. New York: Schocken . (Orig. pub. 1930.)
24.
Mead, George Herbert (1973) Mind, Self, and Society. London and Chicago: University of Chicago Press .
25.
Mills, C. Wright (1943–4) ‘The Professional Ideology of Social Pathologists’ , American Journal of Sociology49: 165–180 .
26.
Noble, David (1958) ‘Charles Horton Cooley: The Transcendentalism of Social Science’, pp. 103–124 in The Paradox of Progressive Thought. St Paul: University of Minnesota Press .
27.
Parsons, Talcott (1968) ‘Cooley and the Problem of Internalization’, pp. 48–68 in Albert J. Reiss (ed.) Cooley and Sociological Analysis. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press .
28.
Peirce, Charles Sanders (1996a) ‘The Doctrine of Chances’, pp. 389–414 in Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Vol. 2. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Books on Demand, Bell & Howell .
29.
Peirce, Charles Sanders (1996b) ‘Pragmatism and Abduction’, pp. 112–134 in Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Vol. 5. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Books on Demand, Bell & Howell .
30.
Peirce, Charles Sanders (1996c) ‘Some Consequences of Four Incapacities’, pp. 156–189 in Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Vol. 5. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Books on Demand, Bell & Howell .
31.
Peirce, Charles Sanders (1996d) ‘How to Make Our Ideas Clear’, pp. 248–271 in Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Vol. 5. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Books on Demand, Bell & Howell .
32.
Peirce, Charles Sanders (1996e) ‘A Survey of Pragmatism’, pp. 317–345 in Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Vol. 5. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Books on Demand, Bell & Howell .
33.
Peirce, Charles Sanders (1996f) ‘Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed for Man’, pp. 135–155 in Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Vol. 5. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Books on Demand, Bell & Howell .
34.
Perinbanayagam, R.S. (1975) ‘The Significance of Others in the Thought of Alfred Schütz, G.H. Mead and C.H. Cooley’ , Sociological Quarterly16: 500–521 .
35.
Petras, John W. (1968) ‘Social-Psychological Theory as a Basis for a Theory of Ethics and Value: The Case of Charles Horton Cooley’ , Journal of Value Inquiry2: 9–21 .
36.
Reitzes, Donald C. (1980) ‘Beyond the Looking-Glass Self: Cooley's Social Self and Its Treatments in Introductory Textbooks’ , Contemporary Sociology9(5): 631–640 .
37.
Rieff, Philip (1964) ‘Introduction’, pp. v–xx in Charles Horton Cooley, Human Nature and Social Order. New York: Schocken .
38.
Schubert, Hans-Joachim (1995) Demokratische Identität: Der soziologische Pragmatismus von Charles Horton Cooley. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp .
39.
Schubert, Hans-Joachim (1998) ‘Introduction’, pp. 1–31 in Charles Horton Cooley, On Self and Social Organization, ed. Hans-Joachim Schubert . Chicago: University of Chicago Press .
40.
Schwartz, Barry Emerson (1985) ‘Cooley and the American Heroic Vision’ , Symbolic Interaction8: 103–120 .
41.
Shrauger, J. Sidney and Thomas J. Schoeneman (1979) ‘Symbolic Interactionist View of Self-Concept: Through the Looking Glass Darkly’ , Psychological Bulletin86(3): 549–573 .
42.
Strauss, Anselm L. (1994) ‘From Whence to Whither: Chicago-Style Interactionism’ , Studies in Symbolic Interaction16: 3–8 .
