Sociology of human consciousness

The sociological approach(Buckley, 1996; Burns and Engdahl (1998a, 1998b), Wiley, 1994, 1986 among others) emphasizes the importance of [[language]], collective representations, self-conceptions, and self-reflectivity. This theoretical approach argues that the shape and feel of human consciousness is heavily social, and this is no less true of our experiences of "collective consciousness" than it is of our experiences of individual consciousness.

The sociological approach(Buckley, 1996; Burns and Engdahl (1998a, 1998b), Wiley, 1994, 1986 among others) emphasizes the importance of [[language]], collective representations, self-conceptions, and self-reflectivity. This theoretical approach argues that the shape and feel of human consciousness is heavily social, and this is no less true of our experiences of "collective consciousness" than it is of our experiences of individual consciousness.

The theory suggests that the problem of consciousness can be approached fruitfully by beginning with the human group and collective phenomena: [[community]], language, language-based communication, institutional, and cultural arrangements.(Wiley, 1986) A collective is a group or [[population]] of individuals that possesses or develops through communication collective representations or models of "we" as opposed to "them": a group, community, organization, or nation is contrasted to "other"; its values and goals, its structure and modes of operating, its relation to its environment and other agents, its potentialities and weaknesses, strategies and developments, and so on.

The theory suggests that the problem of consciousness can be approached fruitfully by beginning with the human group and collective phenomena: [[community]], language, language-based communication, institutional, and cultural arrangements.(Wiley, 1986) A collective is a group or [[Population (human biology)|population]] of individuals that possesses or develops through communication collective representations or models of "we" as opposed to "them": a group, community, organization, or nation is contrasted to "other"; its values and goals, its structure and modes of operating, its relation to its environment and other agents, its potentialities and weaknesses, strategies and developments, and so on.

A collective has the capacity in its collective representations and communications about what characterizes it, or what (and how) this self perceives, judges, or does, or what it can (and cannot) do, or should do (or should not do). It monitors its activities, its achievements and failures, and also to a greater or lesser extent, analyzes and discusses itself as a defined and developing collective agent.

A collective has the capacity in its collective representations and communications about what characterizes it, or what (and how) this self perceives, judges, or does, or what it can (and cannot) do, or should do (or should not do). It monitors its activities, its achievements and failures, and also to a greater or lesser extent, analyzes and discusses itself as a defined and developing collective agent.