Symbolic interactionism Flashcards
What is symbolic interactionism?
The ongoing use of language and gestures in ancipation of how the other will react; a conversation.
How does symbolic interactionism work?
An individual’s personality is formed within society, i.e., a human community.
Symbolic interactionism is how your experiences add subjective meanings to symbols and letters.
Symbolic interactionism is an approach used to analyze human interactions by focusing on the meanings that individuals assign to things in the world around them, including words and objects.
Examples that explain symbolic interactionism.
For example, the word ‘dog’ is just a series of letters. Through your interactions with the letters ‘dog’, you see this as a furry, four-legged canine.
The American Flag was understood to be a symbol of national pride and freedom. Over time, different minority groups have questioned the meaning of the flag, and some groups interpret it as a sign of oppression or disenfranchisement.
What are critiques of symbolic interactionism?
The theory misses out on power, domination and emotion – realities that people face every day
The theory may suffer from an overstatement
Explain the foundational principles of Symbolic Interactionism.
Explain why Symbolic Interactionism is part of Communication Studies.
Symbolic Interactionism is at its core a communications focused theory of self. Self is derived from communicative interactions. This positions communications at the center of something crucial, our very notion of self. Moreover, because self is not inherent, but rather, constituted through communication, then communication is the mechanism through which self is capable of changing.
Use key terms and ideas from Symbolic Interactionism to discuss how our identity is formed and maintained through communication.
Define ‘I vs me’
Define ‘the gesture’
Define direct definition
Particular Others may directly define our identity for us. For example, they may label us, or our behaviours, as good or bad. For instance, you may think you are good singer because your grandmother consistently told you that you “sang like an angel.”
Define life scripts
Particular Others may also provide us with Life Scripts by which we make sense of our self and our place in the world. A life script is a set of beliefs or values that are instilled in you through your interactions with particular others – for example through religion, ethnic identity or political belief. For example, you may value hard work and entrepreneurial enterprise because your grandmother frequently quoted Booker T. Washington.
Define attachment styles
Particular others may also influence your sense of “me” through their attachment style towards you. Patterns of relationships shape our expectations of and our sense of what role we should play in relationships. If fear and aggression were component parts of someone’s previous relationships, these interactions will shape there sense of “me” and the role they expect to play in future relationships.
Define Generalized Other
The Generalized Other is the collection of rules, roles, and attitudes endorsed by the overall society and social communities to which we belong. In other words, the Generalized Other is the acceptable range of identities available to us. Or phrased differently, the Generalized Other is a “Normalized” Identity.
The “Generalized Other” is precisely this sense of “normalcy” that we somehow intuitively have and that shapes our sense of self, either in that we consider ourselves “normal” or “abnormal.”
Symbolic Interactionism acknowledges that meanings are constructed and maintained through interaction, and therefore, are not fixed.
True or false?
True
Symbolic Interactionism introduces the concept of the generalised other and forms the link to how societal norms, communicated through cultural mechanisms, shape the very way we understand ourselves.
True or false?
True
