American philosopher and social psychologist
George Herbert Mead was born on February 27, 1863, in South Hadley, Massachusetts, the second child of Hiram Mead, a Congregationalist minister, and Elizabeth Storrs Billings. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1883, he enrolled at Harvard University, where he earned a master's degree in philosophy in 1888. Mead continued his study of philosophy at the University of Leipzig (1888-1889), where he became quite interested in Darwinism, and at the University of Berlin (1889). During 1891-94 he was an instructor in philosophy and psychology at the University of Michigan. It was at Michigan that Mead and philosopher John Dewey (b. 1859-d. 1952), who chaired both the psychology and philosophy departments, became close personal and intellectual friends. In 1894 he joined Dewey at the University of Chicago, where Dewey chaired the philosophy department. Mead and Dewey, along with James Hayden Tufts (b. 1862-d. 1942), were known as the "Chicago Pragmatists." Mead spent the rest of his life in Chicago, as assistant professor of philosophy 1894-1902, associate professor 1902-1907, and full professor 1907-1931.
Influenced by evolutionary theory and the social nature of experience and behavior, Mead emphasized the natural emergence of the self and mind within the social order. Within this biosocial structure the gap between reason and impulse is bridged by the use of language. Mead called his position social behaviorism, using both social and biological conduct as an approach to all experience.
During his lifetime Mead published only articles. His books, published posthumously from manuscripts and students' notes, include The Philosophy of the Present (1932); Mind, Self, and Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist (1934); Movements of Thought in the Nineteenth Century (1936); and The Philosophy of the Act (1938).
Mead died on April 26, 1931, in Chicago.