The generalized other is George Herbert Mead‘s term for the organised attitudes of a whole community, which a person learns to take into account when acting. In Mead’s words, it is “the attitude of the whole community”. The idea comes from Mind, Self, and Society, published in 1934 after his death and compiled largely from students’ notes of his lectures at the University of Chicago.
Children first take the perspective of particular others, such as a parent or a playmate.
02
Holding the whole team
In organised games, like baseball, a player has to anticipate the responses of every other position.
03
Internalising the community
Those combined expectations become a single reference point: what people in general would think.
04
The me and the I
Mead called the self shaped by those expectations the “me”; the “I” is the spontaneous response to it.
Where you see it today
The imagined audience online
On social media you write for many audiences at once. Researchers who interviewed Twitter users (Marwick and boyd, 2010) found they wrote for an imagined audience, a modern version of the generalized other assembled from followers they could not fully see.
Norms written down for AI
Language models do not grow up in a community, so their norms have to be written down. Constitutional AI (Bai et al., 2022) trains a model to critique and revise its answers against a list of principles, a written stand-in for the generalized other.
A public that sets the rules
In October 2023 Anthropic and the Collective Intelligence Project asked about 1,000 Americans to propose and vote on rules for a chatbot, then trained a model on the resulting public constitution. The community’s attitudes were turned into an explicit document.
Teams with AI colleagues
A new hire absorbs a team’s unwritten rules over months. An AI agent acting for that team cannot, so tone, limits and escalation rules have to be spelled out in its instructions.
The generalized other and related ideas
Generalized other
Who shapes the selfThe organised attitudes of the whole group
ThinkerGeorge Herbert Mead
Significant other
Who shapes the selfSpecific people close to you, such as parents
ThinkerWidely used in sociology
Looking-glass self
Who shapes the selfHow we imagine others see and judge us
ThinkerCharles Horton Cooley
Imagined audience
Who shapes the selfThe audience a person pictures when posting online
ThinkerMarwick and boyd
Social norms
Who shapes the selfShared rules of acceptable behaviour
ThinkerWidely used across social science
How to use it
Write down your team's unwritten rules: how decisions are made, what good work looks like, what gets escalated.
Use that document to onboard people and to instruct AI agents acting for the team.
When you post publicly, name the audience you are writing for; assume others will read it too.
Check new norms with the people they affect before you encode them in a tool.
Review the written rules regularly, since the community they describe keeps changing.
The Business Engineer lens
Organisations used to pass on their norms by osmosis; AI agents need them written down. The Business Engineer treats that written layer, the rules, tone and limits an agent works within, as part of the operating system of the company.
It is George Herbert Mead's term for the organised attitudes of a whole community, which people take into account when they think about and judge their own actions.
Where did Mead describe the generalized other?
In Mind, Self, and Society, published in 1934 after his death and compiled largely from students' notes of his lectures.
What is the difference between the generalized other and a significant other?
A significant other is a specific person, such as a parent; the generalized other is the combined expectations of the group as a whole.
How does the generalized other relate to AI?
AI systems do not absorb norms from a community, so developers write them down as principles or rules, as in Constitutional AI.
The complete explainer, cleaned up and reformatted for mobile.
The concept of the “generalized other” is a key component of George Herbert Mead’s social theory, specifically his theory of the self. It represents a crucial aspect of how individuals come to understand and internalize the norms, values, and expectations of society.
To fully grasp the concept of the generalized other, it’s essential to first understand its place within Mead’s broader framework of social theory. George Herbert Mead was a pioneering American philosopher and sociologist whose work emphasized the social nature of the self. He argued that the self is not a fixed, innate entity but rather a product of social interaction and communication. The generalized other is one of the central ideas within Mead’s theory of the self.
Defining the Generalized Other
The generalized other can be defined as follows:
The generalized other is the collective understanding of societal norms, values, and expectations. It represents the perspective of the larger society and serves as a reference point for individuals in evaluating their own actions and behaviors.
In simpler terms, the generalized other is the internalized sense of what society as a whole expects and considers appropriate. It represents the “voice” of society within an individual’s mind.
Key Features of the Generalized Other
To better understand the concept of the generalized other, let’s examine its key features and components:
1. Collective Perspective
The generalized other represents the collective viewpoint of society. It embodies the shared norms, values, and expectations that are widely accepted within a particular social and cultural context.
2. Reference Point
Individuals use the generalized other as a reference point when evaluating their own actions and behaviors. They consider whether their actions align with or deviate from societal norms.
3. Internalization
The generalized other is not a physical entity but a mental construct. It exists within the minds of individuals as an internalized sense of societal expectations. It is shaped through socialization and interaction with others.
4. Dynamic and Evolving
The content of the generalized other can change over time as societal norms and values evolve. It is not a static or unchanging entity but is influenced by cultural shifts and social developments.
5. Role in Social Control
The concept of the generalized other plays a crucial role in social control. It guides individuals’ behavior by encouraging conformity to societal expectations and discouraging actions that deviate from those expectations.
Development of the Generalized Other
The formation and development of the generalized other occur through a process of socialization and interaction. Here are the key factors and stages involved in this process:
1. Social Interaction
Socialization begins in early childhood through interactions with caregivers, peers, and other significant individuals. During these interactions, children begin to grasp societal norms and values.
2. Role-Taking
Role-taking is a critical aspect of understanding the generalized other. It involves the ability to take on the perspective and roles of others. For example, children learn to see themselves as sons or daughters and understand the expectations associated with those roles.
3. Significant Others
Significant others are individuals who hold importance in an individual’s life and whose roles and expectations are internalized. These may include parents, teachers, family members, and peers.
4. Expanded Perspective
As individuals grow and engage in more complex social interactions, their understanding of the generalized other expands. They begin to consider the expectations and norms of broader societal groups and institutions.
Role of the Generalized Other in Behavior
The concept of the generalized other influences various aspects of human behavior and identity:
1. Moral Development
The generalized other plays a vital role in moral development. It guides individuals in distinguishing between right and wrong by internalizing societal moral standards.
2. Conformity and Deviance
Individuals are motivated to conform to the expectations of the generalized other to gain social acceptance and avoid social sanctions. Deviating from societal norms may result in social disapproval.
3. Identity Formation
The generalized other contributes to the formation of an individual’s identity. It shapes how individuals perceive themselves in relation to societal roles and expectations.
4. Social Change
The concept of the generalized other can also influence social change. When individuals challenge existing societal norms and expectations, they may contribute to shifts in the generalized other’s perspective.
Critiques and Debates
While the concept of the generalized other is a valuable tool for understanding socialization and societal influence, it has not been without criticism and debate:
1. Cultural Variation
Critics argue that the concept may not fully capture the cultural variations in the development of societal norms and values. Different cultures may have distinct generalized others.
2. Individual Agency
Some scholars contend that the concept of the generalized other places too much emphasis on societal control and socialization, potentially neglecting the role of individual agency and autonomy.
3. Social Change vs. Stability
There is ongoing debate about whether the generalized other primarily reinforces social stability by promoting conformity or whether it can also be a catalyst for social change when individuals challenge established norms.
Conclusion
The concept of the generalized other is a fundamental component of George Herbert Mead’s social theory of the self. It highlights the role of societal norms, values, and expectations in shaping human behavior and identity. By internalizing the perspective of the generalized other, individuals navigate social interactions, make moral judgments, and develop a sense of self in relation to their broader social context.
While the concept is a powerful tool for understanding socialization and societal influence, it is not without its complexities and debates. Scholars continue to explore the nuanced ways in which the generalized other operates in diverse cultural and social settings, shedding light on the intricate relationship between the individual and society.
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Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
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