Human Nature and the Social Order: The Interplay of Man’s Behaviors, Character and Personal Traits with His Society

Charles Horton Cooley's account of human beings, their behavior, and how they organize themselves has been praised for its originality, and remains an underappreciated and much-cited classic of sociology. Human Nature and the Social Order is a logically composed book which straddles and to a degree transcends the boundaries between philosophy, psychology and sociology. Cooley wished to clarify the behavior of human beings, how they come to interact and socialize with one another, and how they arrive at a definition of themselves that is in harmony with their own well-being and that of others. Later in the book, Cooley discusses qualities which have been promoted or felt as necessary for humans in civilized society. Good, conscientious and beneficent leadership, the possession of a moral compass and conscience, and the excellent values of freedom receive their own discussions with positive and negative elements comprising the well-rounded analyses.