Precursors
Mead's concept of the generalised other has been linked to Adam Smith's notion of the impartial spectator - itself rooted in the earlier thinking of Addison and Epitectus.
Adam Smith wrote: "We Conceive ourselves as acting in the presence of a person quite candid and equitable, of one who...is meerly a man in general, an impartial Spectator who considers our conduct with the same indifference with which we regard that of other people".
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