Symbolic Interactionism

G.H. Mead (U.S. 1863-1931)

  • influenced by Pragmatism, school of American philosophy

  • focus on practical conditions and consequences of action

  • the self

    • active, ongoing reflexive processing and evaluation of the self

    • self: subject (“I”) and Object (“Me”)

    • Dynamic interaction between “I” and the “Me”

The Self

  • the individual takes on or internalizes the attitudes of others toward him/her (Me)

  • the individual responds or reacts to those attitudes (I)

  • the self emerges out of social interaction

  • selves can only exist in definite relationships to others selves

  • the looking glass self (Cooley)

  • the self is maintained through ongoing interaction with others

Role Taking

  • central to Mead’s theory

  • Look at self as an object

  • the mind - ability to use symbols, to interpret another’s gestures, to anticipate and wait for a stimulus to respond, to imagine

  • stages of role taking

    • play stage

    • game stage

    • generalized other

Self & Society

  • self as a perspective, conversation, and a story

  • develops through role taking and internalization of language

  • “I” is the impulse to act while “Me” is the product of role taking and made up of socially legitimated responses

  • mind, self, and society mutually constitute one another

    • negotiated interaction between the individual, the situation, and society

Socialization

  • teaches us how to be social

  • we learn to interpret symbols, language

  • primary group: the family is typically the first and the most enduring source of influence on the individual

  • we learn what’s what in our social environment

  • how things are defined; generalized and generalizable definitions of the situation (W.I. Thomas)

The Act

  • similar to behavioralism - look at the individual’s action

  • 4 stages as part of the act

    • impulse-immediate sensuous stimulation (e.g. hunger)

    • perception-actor searchers for and responds to stimuli related to impulse

    • manipulation - taking action in regard to stimuli

    • consumption - taking final action that satisfies impulse

Meaningful Interaction

  • human interaction, not simply conditioned

  • emphasis on shared meanings; shared interpretations of symbols and of how to respond to symbols, gestures, other selves

  • communication: the exchange of symbols whose meanings are shared

Symbolic Interaction

  • focus - centrality of symbolic exchange to human-social life

  • ongoing exchange of symbols in social interaction

  • self-other interpretive processes in social interaction

  • focus on face-to-face interaction a micro process that has macro societal implications

Socially Contextualized Meaning

  • the mean of things - objects, events, interaction, other people - changes in different societal contexts

  • meaning is socially structured

  • different social environments, different social situations (work, classroom, home), impose different social expectations

Mead on…

  • intelligence - humans have capacity to delay immediate response to a stimulus, organize array of potential reactions

  • consciousness - subjective and reflective, exists in relation to the environment and does not live solely inside the brain

    • mental images in mind based on symbols

  • meaning - again, is socially situated, actor interprets meaning from actions and events, reflected in gestures and symbols

  • mind - process not a thing, social phenomenon (the conversation in the mind with use of symbols)

  • self-take oneself as an object

Erving Goffman (1922-1982), Dramaturgy

  • social exchange as socially structured and ritualized social interaction

  • metaphor of drama

  • social behavior as role performance

  • social roles are socially scripted, not spontaneous or individual creations

  • we act out and enact the socially shared expectations that inhere in various and diverse social roles

Role Performance

  • role performances must convince audiences of the appropriateness, the credibility, of our role behavior

  • we must respond appropriately to the cues in any given role-performance situation/social relationship

  • effective role performance/self-presentation requires impression management

Definition of the Situation

  • definition of the situation critical to successful, smooth role performance

  • actors must put up and maintain the appropriate front (e.g. doctors, patients, receptionists, nurses)

  • props help establish the definition of the situation (e.g. doctors office)

  • appearance and manner also matter; establish the legitimacy of the interaction/performance

Interaction Rituals

  • characterize all social settings (formal & informal, private & public)

  • acts and gestures about communicating (how should we greet one another?)

  • stereotypical, exaggerated ways of behaving, self-presenting, in particular situations

  • rituals of subordination; women stand behind their men

  • significance of body language; we are constantly emitting non-verbal cues to which others must respond

Impression Management

  • done by actors as individuals, as teams (e.g. husband and wife’s conjoint appearance/routine), and by organizations

  • front-stage behavior; active creation and maintenance of a particular front

  • back-stage behavior; respite from front-stage, but still engaged in role performance

  • total institutions (e.g. asylums/prisons): no separate regions of self-presentation

Stigma

  • socially and relationally defined

  • “undesired differentness” from those considered “normal”

    • physical deformity/disability

    • character blemishes (e.g. addiction)

    • group/tribal identity (e.g. race, nation, religion)

  • see the stigmatized as “not quite human”; and thus we discriminate against them

Passing

  • the impression management work of role performance especially challenging for those with a stigma

  • pressure to pass as “normal”

  • have to self-present in ways that control and redefine the definition of the situation

  • impose frames that aim to redefine reality; not just stigmatized individuals but corporations, organizations, social movements, etc.

  • disgraced financial corporations have to pass as reputable, trustworthy, etc.

Researching Symbolic Interaction

  • on-the-ground observation of face to face interaction and of the settings in which it occurs

  • deeper our perception and understanding of human group life

  • applicable across a broad array of social settings