interactionism Flashcards
Symbolic interactionism
Developed in the University of Chicago in the first half of the 20th century (1900s)
We create the social world through our actions and interactions and the meanings we give to social situations.
Interactionism - George Herbert Mead
We do not act on instinct like animals.
Instead we respond to the world by giving meanings to the things that are significant to us. Actions are symbols that need interpreting eg. shaking fist.
In each situation there is an ‘interpretive phase’ when we decide how to respond to a stimulus.
If Thea decided to pull Georgia’s hair, Georgia would have to decide on the meaning this action had. Is Thea angry? Is she joking? Then Georgia would have to decide how to respond.
We learn to interpret other people’s meanings by ‘taking the role of the other.’ We put ourselves in the place of the other person and learn to see ourselves as they see us. To function as a society we need to be able to do this.
We come to see ourselves as others see us.
Labelling Theory
Interactionist concepts underpin labelling theory
The definition of the situation – if we believe something to be true then it will affect how we act eg. if a teacher believes a student is disruptive
The looking glass self – Cooley (1922) – we develop our self-concept by seeing ourselves as others see us. So if we are negatively labelled by a teacher it could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Career – Becker – use the concept to apply to groups eg. the career of a mental patient from ‘pre-patient’ to hospital-in-patient and so on. We internalise labels and they affect how we feel and behave.
Symbolic interactionism is generally seen as being about individual free will and choice however Labelling theory can be seen as deterministic e.g. you will become your label.
Goffman
All of social life is a performance.
We play different roles with different people.
Sometimes we are backstage and sometimes we are front stage.
Social Construction
Our concepts and ideas of what is normal depends on culture, time and place.
E.g. expectations, norms and values around childhood vary across the world and time.
Evaluation of Interactionism
Avoids determinism of structural theories.
Recognises that people ‘create’ society through their interactions.
One of the biggest strengths of Action theories is that they show us that individuals contribute to creating society’s norms and values, and that people can change it.
Marxists and Feminists say it ignores wider social structures and power relations such as social class and how these impact labels for instance.
