SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM

Question 1

Concerned with understanding?

Answer 1

The meanings and interpretations of participants

Question 2

GEORGE HERBERT MEAD

Answer 2

1863-1931

University of Chicago

Moved away from positivism

Question 3

ss

Human mind has the ability to deal with ………. ?

Answer 3

MEANING

Meanings are learned through dealing with other people

Transforms the biological human organism into a social being

Question 4

PRAGMATISM is contrast to?

Answer 4

Positivism

Question 5

PRAGMATISM 1

Answer 5

‘Reality’ does not exist ‘out there’ it actively created as we act towards the world. Knowledge is indeterminate.

Question 6

PRAGMATISM 2

Answer 6

People base their knowledge (truth/reality) on the world on what is USEFUL and what WORKS (dismiss things that don’t work)

Question 7

PRAGMATISM 3

Answer 7

People DEFINE the social and physical ‘objects’ they encounter according to their use for them

Question 8

PRAGMATISM 4

Answer 8

Our understanding of actors should be based on what they actually do (practical interactions)

Question 9

THE SELF emerges in?

Answer 9

Social activity (eg education from our family, school, social groups we belong) and relationships

Question 10

Humans can see themselves as?

Answer 10

OBJECTS (this is what distinguishes us from other animals) We can see ourselves how others would view us

Question 11

THE FORMATION OF THE SELF (4 things as children)

Answer 11

1) IMITATION

2) ROLE PLAY (we ability to swap roles, begin to perceive
ourselves from other points of view)
(also, human LANGUAGE allows for more complex
forms of role play than other animals)

3) GAMES

4) THE GENERALISED OTHER (attitudes of social group or
society)

Question 12

TWO ASPECTS OF THE SELF is embodiment of?

Answer 12

Structure vs Agency

Question 13

What are they?

Answer 13

The ‘subjective’ I
- Creative and imaginative, creates change rather than
simply reflecting society

The ‘objective’ me
- Judgemental and controlling. Represents the views of the
generalised other/ how others see us

LINKS TO COOLEY’S ‘LOOKING GLASS SELF’

• We imagine how we appear to others
• We imagine the judgment of that appearance
• We develop our self ( identity ) through the judgments of others.

Question 14

INDIVIDUALS AND SOCIETY

Answer 14

• Do not exist separately from one another
• Only to be understood through INTERACTION
• Society depends on functioning of ‘I’ and ‘me’
  (how ‘me’ conforms to society)

Question 15

Why does Mead reject strict social determinism?

Answer 15

Social Determinism = accepting ALL aspects of the ‘me’ and fully conforming to society through the meanings OTHERS give us
( eg Marx, economic determinism = economics shapes everything in society )

• HOWEVER because we also have the ‘subjective’ I, we
  have the ability to go against social norms

Question 16

HERBERT BLUMER (1900-87)

Answer 16

• Highlighted the social implications of Mead’s social
  philosophy
• Coined the term SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM

Question 17

Why was it a strong critique of positivism?

Answer 17

• It moved from social STRUCTURE to social INTERACTION
• Concerned with the MEANINGS and INTERPRETATIONS
  and these were DIFFERENT for different people
• There are not ‘facts’ out there independent of social
  actors, as people interpret social reality differently

Question 18

Symbolic significance?

Answer 18

• Humans act towards things on the basis of the MEANING
  they have for them.

eg certain things gain SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE ‘mother’
can change meaning due to the social setting
AND
can change over TIME as life continues

Question 19

ETHNOGRAPHY - Brewer 2008

Goffman agrees with this

Answer 19

Study of people in NATURALLY OCCURRING settings by means of methods which capture SOCIAL MEANINGS and ORDINARY activities

Basically…
Participating/ immersing yourself in another world to understand it from within/ their point of view

Question 20

Example of ethnography? Stoller?

Answer 20

SONGHAY SORCERY
- Knew their were some scientific (positivist) explanations
for this ‘magic’
- Became a sorcerer’s apprentice
- Got paralysed by a sorceress
- Had to use their methods to heal himself
- He was more than just observing now
- Troubles his FOUNDATIONALIST ONTOLOGY and
REJECTS POSITIVISM. He could NOT translate methods
of the natural science to social science, it would NOT
work

Question 21

ERVING GOFFMAN (1922-82)

Answer 21

Didn’t self define as a symbolic interactionist but links closely

Question 22

How does THE PRESENTATION OF SELF IN EVERYDAY LIFE link to symbolic interactionism?

Answer 22

DRAMATURGICAL APPROACH - life as a series of dramatic performances
= the ‘subjective’ I

IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT - techniques used to present an image that is accepted by others
= the ‘objective’ me

Question 23

A THEATRICAL ANALOGY?

Answer 23

Both created in INTERACTION with others

FRONT STAGE
Where the performance is given. Individuals conform to the social role that is accepted

BACK STAGE
Preparation for performances. Can conceal aspects of ourselves that are not part of our on stage performances

Question 24

How does ASYLUMS (1961) (Goffman’s most cited and controversial work) show the power of the interactionist approach?

Answer 24

• Based on 12 months ETHNOGRAPHIC fieldwork
• Aim was to learn about the social world of hospital
  inmates (perspective of the patients)

Question 25

What are TOTAL INSTITUTIONS?

Answer 25

• Closed environment in which the time and space of
  inmates can be controlled

(the experience of inmates in any total institution (prison,
mental hospital, boarding school) will be VERY SIMILAR)

Question 26

THE MORTIFICATION OF SELF

Answer 26

• Lose clothes and rights
• Limited privacy
• Loss of identity & sense of self importance

Question 27

ADAPTION STRATEGIES

Answer 27

1) SITUATIONAL WITHDRAWAL
2) INTRANSIGENT LINE (rebelling)
3) COLONISATION (life inside is better than outside)
4) CONVERSION (accepted doctor’s definition of insanity)

IRONY = all attempts to preserve identity

Question 28

How did Goffman readily reject the psychiatrist/ positivist approach?

Answer 28

He radically changed the way patients were dealt with

• Very critical of medical and SCIENTIFIC claims of
  ‘psychopaths’
• He saw psychotic behaviour as not abiding by rules that
  govern ‘EVERYDAY BEHAVIOUR’
  (by breaking these rules your sanity is doubted)

Question 29

How did he see ‘insanity’?

Answer 29

He saw insanity as a BEHAVIOURAL issue not a SCIENTIFIC/ MEDICAL issue.

It was down to not conforming to societal norms

Question 30

DRAMATURGICAL DILEMMAS IN SHYNESS (Scott 2005)

Answer 30

• Symbolic interactionism RELOCATES shyness in its social
  context (away from psychological study, rejection of
  positivist approach)
• Shyness is SOCIALLY NEGOTIATED and emerges from
  everyday interaction

Question 31

How does this link to Goffman’s front/ back stage divide?

Answer 31

Shy ‘subjective’ ‘I’ (BACKTAGE)
PRIVATE feelings of inhibition
Recoil from ‘front stage’ encounters
Barrier to interaction

BACKSTAGE REHEARSALS ARE CONDUCTED TO IMPROVE FRONT STAGE PERFORMANCE

Shy ‘objective’ me
Reflects on image from audience’s perspective, generalised other switches to the ‘competent other’ who is confident

Question 32

FURTHER READING

‘The role of products as a social stimuli: a symbolic interactionist perspective’ was written by whom?

Answer 32

SOLOMON (1983)

Question 33

How are products a guide to social roles performance?

Answer 33

It looks at…

• HOW products are used by consumers in everyday social
  life
• and how the consumers relies on SOCIAL MEANINGS
  inherent in products

as a GUIDE TO SOCIAL ROLES PERFORMANCE

Question 34

Products serve as a ______ to social behaviour?

Answer 34

STIMULUS

• Using symbolic interactionism stresses the importance of
  product symbolism in defining role performances