George Herbert Mead and the Birth of Symbolic Interactionism Flashcards
Mead: Intro
Social psychologist and philosopher–basis for theoretical & methodological field of sociology known as Symbolic Interactionism (SI)
Mead: Intro: Influenced by Philosophical Pragmatism of William James and John Dewey
Epistemologically, “truth” is actively created–it exists for humans only in action and interaction–agnostic about truth
Methodologically, pragmatism is interested in observing human behavior, not in posing metaphysical questions or engaging in Cartesian webs of logic
Pragmatists view human knowledge as something that is created to be used in the real world to solve real problems (even everyday, mundane ones)
Mead: Intro: Influenced by strand of psychology known as behaviorism
Humans, like animals, are conditioned to respond in predicable ways by external stimuli (operant conditioning)–leaves little room for role of mind cos psychologists can’t observe mind for experiments
Mead rejected this–believed humans were “cognitively reflexive”–sometimes known as “social behaviorism”
Mead: Gestures and Significant Symbols
Insignificant Gestures: pre-symbolic, almost instinctual–like when beavers build dams, or we get in a fist-fight
Significant Gestures: use SYMBOLS–similar response in individual sharing as individual receiving–different than insignificant
Vocal Gesture (language): highest form of significant symbol
- universal
- calls out mental image
- acts as stimuli in similar way
Conversation of significant gestures/symbols makes mind and self possible
Mead: The Mind
Mind: arises in humans in order to survive and adapt to organized social activity
Mind: Behavioral Ability to:
- Attach significant symbols to objects in an environment (e.g. identifying a chair and labeling it as such)
- Use these symbols as a stimulus to one’s own response
- Read and interpret the gestures of others and use these as a stimulus for one’s response
- Suspend temporarily or inhibit behavioral responses to one’s own gestures and those of others
- Engage in “imaginative rehearsal” of alternative lines of conduct, visualize their consequences, and select the response that will facilitate adjustment to the environment
The infant is like a “lower animal”. It must develop a mind in order to adapt to the human social world. It must learn to take on the role of the other.
Mead: The Self
Arises from ability to take oneself as an object
- Different from physical body
- Use of significant symbols allows individual to become an object to themself–“social structure” arising from behavior
The development of the self
- Play stage–behavioral ability–taking on roles
- Game stage–generalized other with abstract thought & organized activity–can become coherent self, and can’t get rid of generalized self
Mead: The “I” and the “Me”
“I” acts in the present–self never has direct knowledge of the “I”
“Me” is self as object
Action never enters experience until after the action is complete
“Me” “calls for” a certain “I”–they are connected
Dynamic between “I” and “Me” create novel experience
From Mead to Symbolic Interactionism
Direct influence on Herbert Blumer
- self is a social creation
- individual selves interact through symbolic exchange
- symbols used strategically to alter & maintain self–how does continued maintenance of self work?
Erving Goffman: Intro
Trained at UChicago, but distinct from Mead & Blumer’s SI–people are constrained by power, roles, rituals
Dramaturgy–actors, performance, audience, roles, scripts, routines, stages, settings, props, etc
Primary Focus is maintenance of self (adults)& presentation of self–control & manipulation
Similar to Mead’s Definition of Self
Erving Goffman: Performances
Social Roles
Impression management–idealized self–hide preparation, act like it’s performance
- also difference between giving an impression vs giving off an impression
Front Stage–critical to establishing definition of a situation–setting, personal front (appearance, manner), structure of the front
Back Stage–preparation–but is there really backstage?
Teams–simultaneous performance
Audience management–audience segregation (boss/friend/parent)
Interaction Ritual (“how are you” “good”)
- how does interaction ritual maintain social order?–rituals of subordination (cos interaction rituals sometimes reinforce power)
Erving Goffman: Total Institutions
Blurring of front and back stage–eliminating back stage to control true self
Regulated and Supervised
Self defined in terms of role performance that conforms to institution’s authority structure
Critique of Symbolic Interactionism
Ignores emotions and subconscious influences
Too much emphasis on agency over structure
Difficult to systematize and use the methods of social science
Concepts are often vague
Weak theoretical conception of macro structures
