Symbolic Interactionism Flashcards
Outline symbolic interactionism
- It focuses on our ability to create the social world through our actions and interactions
- It sees these interactions as based on the meanings to situation. We convey these meanings through symbols, especially language
How to do we respond to the world?
- Mead argues we respond to the world by giving meanings to the things that are significant to us. We then create a world of meanings.
- We do this by attaching symbols to the world. A symbol is something that represents something else.
Explain symbols versus instincts
- Unlike animals, we don’t respond to a stimulus in a pre-determined way.
- Instead, there’s an interpretive phase comes between the stimulus and the response, as we have to interpret its meaning
- We then choose an appropriate response,
What is taking on the role of the other?
- We put ourselves in the place of the other person and seeing ourselves as they us
- Our ability to do this develops through social interaction. We first do this as children in imitative play. Later, we so ourselves from the point of view of the wider community
- For Mead, to function as members of society, we need to take on the role of the other. Through shared symbols, we become conscious of the ways of acting that other require of us
How is the self constructed and what is it’s effect?
- Mead argues the ‘self’ is constructed and reconstructed though interactive behaviour (interactionist)
- 1 Individual behaviour isn’t determined by external factors but is created by self-conscious interactions with others
- 2 Someone identity is modified from how they perceive how they’re seen by others
- 3 Such interactions are constantly modified through the learned signs and symbols (not inherent or natural)
- 4 From this people make society, rather than making people (micro approach)
What is the ‘looking glass-self’?
- Cooley called the idea that our image of ourselves is reflected back to us (like a mirror), the ‘looking glass-self’, and individuals react accordingly.
- So the process of socialisation can be seen to be actively constructed by our interaction with others (symbolic interactionism)
What are the 4 main principles of social interaction?
(According to Blumer):
- 1. Individuals act based on the subjective meaning objects have for them
- 2. Interactions happen in a social and cultural context where objects, people and situations must be defined according to individuals’ subjective meanings
- 3. For individuals, meaning originate from interactions with other individuals and with society
- 4. The meanings an individual creates and recreates through a process of interpretation that happens whenever that individual interacts with others.
How does Blumer view on action contrast functionalism?
- Blumer argues our action is partly predictable as we internalise the expectations of others.
- It’s not fixed, there’s room for negotiation and choice in how we perform our roles in how we perform our role
Apply labelling theory to ‘taking on the role of the other’
- Thomas argues we assign labels to people and then treat them according to those labels, which is the definition of the situation
- Due to the labels, we often taken on a ‘master status’
- We go through various stags of labelling and different identities form through labelling and the looking glass self (self-fulfilling prophecy)
Give evaluation for symbolic interactionalism (structural theories)
- Interactionism avoids the determinism of macro theories
- Focuses on interactions and ignores wider social structure, like class inequality (Marxism).
- It can’t explain consistent patterns we observe in people’s behaviour. Functionalists argue these patterns are due to norms dictating behaviour.
- It can be argued interactionalism is a loose collection of descriptive concepts than an explanatory theory
