iours, rather than on behaviours themselves. Furthermore, there were a number of sociologists around the 1930's whom more formally commenced what is known today as the 'Interactionist perspective of Deviance'. Charles Cooley and the 'looking Glass Self', William Thomas and the 'Definition of the situation', George Herbert Mead and the 'Development of the self.' (Aggleton, 1987, chpt 4)
             Charles Cooley and his 'looking Glass self' notes how people tend to think they appear to others and the judgements these people may make on us. This concept is very important in how we, ourselves, tend to act in certain situations and how we see ourselves.(Pontell, 1999, pg 50) Therefore People who perceive that others think they display so called 'deviant behaviour' will live up to this judgement and continue to behave in this way in the future.
             William Thomas and his 'Definition of the situation' is a continuation of Charles Cooley's study. Thomas argues that Situations defined as real become real in the deviant's consequences. In 1923, Thomas conducted a study of a young woman who turned to Prostitution; she concluded that this was the only way she could financially provide for herself. (Aggleton, 1987, pg 51) "This suggests that the perceived judgements of others have a powerful role to play in confirming self-identities and the behaviour that can follow from these." (Aggleton, 1987, pg 51)
             George Herbert Mead and his 'Development of the self' is responsible for a number of concepts which provide the foundations of what the Interactionist Theory is about. Mead focused primarily on the way in which we as humans interpret the world we live in through the use of symbols, images, sounds, smells, etc. "By interacting symbolically with significant others (people close to us), we learn to 'role-take', taking on board first of all, the ...