Interactionist views & the self

Covering topics like the self, the looking glass self, dramaturgical theory, and the changing self

Lawler

believes that within the social world, people make interpertations of the things around them - identity, therefore, is produced as people interpret the meanings of the bits and pieces of their lives, they then assemble them into an identity - suggests that there is something that we create rather have it imposed onto us

Interactionist persepective on identity

identity emerges partly as a result of social interaction, people may deliberately present a version of themselves in public to manipulate how others see them

Why do some people have it difficult to present themselves in a positive way

social stigma (eg people with disabilities may be labelled negativly by others)

Importance of ‘the self’ by interactionalists

self-concept (developed through interactions with other people because it is based partly on how others react to the induvidual

Mead and ‘the self’

at an early age we slowly become aware that there are people who are not me (that each of us has a separate existence), growing up we also begin to form an impression of our own personal qualities and characteristics - language enables us to reflect on ourselves and to hold little internal conversations

Cooley and ‘the looking glass self’

our identity has social origin, we depend on other people for vital clues about who we are - the term ‘looking glass self’ is used to convey the idea that we see ourselves reflected in the attitudes and behaviour of how other people see us - we begin to see ourselves through the expectations of others, imitating others and acting out a variety of roles (the variety of roles increases with age)

Becker and ‘the self-fulfilling prophecy’ and ‘master status’

Identity will be strongly shaped by the labels others give - a self fulfilling prophecy can happen when a person is labelled (the person who is applying the label will treat them differently and the label will often be accepted by the other person who has been labelled), master status is the dominant status identity which can override all other elements of a person

Goffin & his dramaturgical theory

saw this the presentation of self (a process where we deliberately arrange our appearance and adopt certain mannerisms in order to make a public statement for ourselves), he saw society like a stage with people acting out performances - we put on a front self to project a sent image of ourselves this can be thought of our social identity (the front by manipulating the setting in which we perform: our appearance ,and our manner), we have various fronts depending on the social stage that we find ourselves in and the themes of actors which whom we are performing (school or college are examples of typical stages which require us to put on a front), however individuals also possess a backstage self

The changing self

Interactionist challenge the idea that each of us have a fixed, stable self - identity can change with a passage of time - an identity may slowly change, or it may be transformed by a dramatic life event