). These students where those who later developed the concept of symbolic interactionism (Ritzer, 2000, p. 50). Basically, then, Mead's ideas of the self may be viewed from the concept of behaviorism. While he believed that the actor reacted to the stimulus according to rewards and costs of behavior, he was concerned with the exclusion of the consciousness in the behavioral theory (p. 51). Behaviorists did not give enough weight to the consciousness since it could not be weighed, measured, and objectified scientifically. Mead disagreed with this tried to extend the principles of behaviorism to the analysis of the mind and the consciousness. Although this worked on an individual level, however, it did not work once it was extended to the societal and cultural level.
Erving Goffman appeared later, after the decline of the Chicago School of Sociology. He was still, however, a product of this school and as a result, had developed a strong theory on the concept the self employing a dramaturgical approach in describing how the self interacted with others. According to Barnhart (1994), Goffman believed that there were different aspects to the self, in developing as interaction occurs with others. Primarily, the self establishes a "front" social identity that determines the "front" concept of self. As Barnhart (1994) states, "the front acts as the vehicle of standardization allowing for others to understand the individual" (p. 1). This front attempts to control what the audience learns about the self by establishing what is appropriate in behavior for the front to perform through words and body language. Although the front is the primary source for developing a social identity through social interaction, there are other parts of the self as well, including the backstage self and the offstage self. The backstage self is closer to the true self since the audience it performs for is relatively small, sometimes only playing for the...