Final answer:
The Chicago School of Sociology focuses on human behavior and personality as products of social and physical environments, the emergence of self through social interactions, and emphasizes cultural over genetic determinants of ethnicity.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Chicago School in American Sociology holds some key tenets that slightly overlap but are distinct from the fields of psychology and other sociological perspectives. Among these tenets, we find the assertion that human behavior and personality are shaped by both social and physical environments. This view was prevalent among scholars working out of the University of Chicago, who observed the changes brought on by urbanization and sought to understand the impact on social structures and behaviors.
Another crucial tenet of the Chicago School is the idea that the self is a social construct that emerges from a continuous process of interaction with other selves. This aligns with the work of Charles Cooley and George Herbert Mead, both of whom emphasized the role of social interaction in the formation of the self, with Mead specifically focusing on the concept of the 'generalized other'. Their theories held that people develop their identities by internalizing others' perspectives, a phenomenon that Cooley termed 'the looking glass self'.
Finally, while the idea that ethnicity can be regarded from genetic and cultural perspectives might be debated in a variety of fields, the Chicago School particularly emphasizes the cultural aspects over genetic determinism when considering the concept of ethnicity. They explore how societal influences, such as race, social class, gender, religion, and culture, are crucial in shaping individual and group behaviors over pure genetic factors.