Self, war, and society : George Herbert Mead's macrosociology

George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) is a central founder of the field of sociology.

His stature in the discipline is comparable to that of his contemporaries Emile Durkheim and Max Weber.

Mead's contribution was a profound and unique American theory, one that analyzed society and the individual as social objects.

As Mead saw it, both society and the individual emerged from cooperative, democratic processes linking the self, the other, and the community.

In this volume, Mary Jo Deegan, a leading scholar of Mead's work, traces the evolution of his thought in both its continuity and change.

Her main purpose is to analyze and document the most controversial period of Mead's work, in which he addressed the topics of violence and the nation state.

Mead's theory of war, peace, and society emerged out of the historical events of his time, particularly World War I.

During this time, Mead went from being a pacifist, along with his contemporaries John Dewey and Jane Addams, to being a strong advocate for war.

During America's participation in World War I, from 1917-1918, Mead became a public and intellectual leader on the need for war based on his theory of self and society. After the war, he became disillusioned with President Woodrow Wilson, Americans' failure to support mechanisms for international arbitration, and the political reasons for American participation in World War I.

Mead also returned to a more pacifist and co-operative model of behavior during the 1920s, he became less political, more abstract, and more withdrawn from public debates than he was prior to the conflict.

The book includes Deegan's interpretation of Mead's early social thought, his friendship and family networks, the historical context of America at war, and the importance of analysis of violence and the state from Mead's perspective.

Deegan also provides illustrative selections from Mead's work, much of which was previously unpublished.

This volume will definitively establish Mead as one of the most significant classical sociologists to write on war and peace, and will also contribute to contemporary debates on the politics and morality of war.