The Play and Fate of Meanings in Everyday Life
Meaning is not intrinsic. It is relational, interpretive, and always up for negotiation. The gesture is the same, the action towards it changes
A kiss is just a kiss
Until it isn’t.
It is defined in action and context
What is symbolic interactionism
Symbolic interaction is something we “do” constantly
Meaning is fashioned, on the fly, step by step
Defining Symbolic Interaction is difficult
S.I. emphasized the active processes whereby people craft social worlds, create meanings, accomplish self, define situations, and engage in cooperative, situated and structured joint action
it isn’t just a label. Its a way of seeing, a way of being, and a way of moving through the social world
Blumer’s 3 premises
Humans act toward things on the basis of the meanings that things have for them
Centrality of meaning
Meaning is central to the perspective of SI
What things are is less important than what they mean
He talks about “the finger”
Not just a finger in some situations, in others, yes
The meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has with one’s fellows
The origin of meaning is in social interaction
Meaning does not just “emanate” from things, meaning is not intrinsically “there”
Meaning is situated and emergent; its meaning is actively defined in the processes of interaction and between people
Meanings are social products
The finger again, what it means, arises in interaction between the two or more people involved
Offense if its a stranger, playful if its a friend
These meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process used by the person in dealing with the things he encounters
Meanings arises through communication, especially people communicating with themselves
“… it is a creative active and formative process in which meanings are used and revised as instruments for the guidance and formation of action”
They are formed flexibly by the actors as they form their actions
The finger might be a gesture that is offensive, playful, defiant, a sign of solidarity, a warning, expression of frustration or any number of other possible meaning that hinge on an interpretive process
Cooley, Mead, and the self in interaction
Looking Glass self- (1) The imagination of our appearance to the other, (2) the imagination of the judgment of that appearance, and (3) some sort of self-feeling, such as pride or mortification
Self-consciousness is a continually monitoring self from the point of view of others and that living in the minds of others, imaginatively gives rise to real and intensely powerful emotions
Society is possible because people interact cooperatively, which in turn is made possible because humans have to unique capacity to take on the role of the other
If you can act towards yourself as you have towards others, you possess a self
Min- reflexivity - we are unconsciously putting ourselves in the place of others and acting as others act.
The mind is a process, not a thing. Mind is a verb
Minding
Minding is an acquired capacity which emerges in socialization and deeply connected to language acquisition
Descartes- I think therefore I am
SI- I am, therefore I think
Mind is a communicative process that is emergent« dynamic not static» and constituted by language and significant symbols
Minding allows people to transcend society
Mind is that which enables an individual to tole take. Without role taking, neither self nor society is possible
Language as the medium of meaning
Language guides our classification of experience because things only become meaningful when placed into categories (he calls this lumping and splitting)
Lumping- similar
Splitting- different
In acquiring language people not only acquire the means for communication, but also a profound capacity to perceive reality in socially accepted ways
Being able to “see” the social world through active yet socialized mental lens
Meaning is situated and negotiated in practices of everyday life. We are constantly making society