Meaning of COOLEY, CHARLES HORTON (1864-1929):
For modern purposes, the most important part of Cooley’s work was his attempt to abolish the dualisms of society/individual and body/mind. He believed that the self and society could only be defined in relation to each other: society inevitably shaped the individual; individuals constituted society. His idea of the looking-glass self was taken up by George Herbert Mead in his general theory of the self.