Symbolic Interactionism

Roots Pragmatism: Symbolic Interactionism Reality is not ‘out there’  actively created We base our knowledge on what has proven to be useful Define ‘objects’ according to use Base our understanding of actors on what people actually do Symbolic Interactionism Focus on interaction actor-world View of actor & world as dynamic processes Importance actor’s ability to interpret the social world Actively created as we act in and toward the world. Base: likely to alter what doesn’t work Dynamic processes so not as static structures

Roots Behaviorism Symbolic interactionism Concerned with observable behaviors stimuli, response Symbolic interactionism Mead: covert aspects Blumer: Similar to Mead but also included other forms of psychological reductionism Focus on the stimuli that provoke responses, or behavior. Did not pay attention to covert mental processes Covert aspects by our mental capacities. Blumer opposed to any psychological theory that ignores the process by which actors construct meaning. Also against sociologistic/deterministic theories

George Herbert Mead Mind, Self and Society Priority to social world in understanding social experience The act: Four stages Impulse: stimulation and reaction Perception: Search for and react to stimuli that relate to the impulse Manipulation: of the object Consummation: the taking of action that satisfies the original impulse The social act Gestures  significant symbols Mind: process, social phenomenon But real order: society and then minds arising within it; social world precedes the individual. Four basic and interrelated stages who represent an organic whole. Perception; hunger and means to satisfy it; active selection Social act involves two or more persons Gestures: vocal gestures: very important: affects speaker too  significant when same response in speaker (language)

George Herbert Mead Self: To be both subject and object Child development: play & game stage Generalized Other ‘I’: immediate response, unpredictable, creative, makes changes possible ‘Me’: the adoption of the generalized other, concious, social control Society: Social process that precedes both mind and self Organized set of responses  me Social institutions For self: outside ourself to evaluate Play: learn to take attitude of others to themselves; game stage organisation: definite personality

Basic Principles Capacity for thought Shaped by social interaction In interaction we learn meanings and symbols Meanings and symbols allow human action and interaction People can modify or alter meanings and symbols ( based on interpretation of the situation) People are able to make those modifications because of their ability to interact with themselves Patterns of action and interaction make up groups and societies 1, Reflect 2, socialization: dynamic process; interaction = process in which the ability to think is both developed and expressed. 3, symbols are social objects used to represent; enable, amongst others, taking the role of the other 4, cover and overt behavior 5, about making choices

The Self Looking-glass self Blumer: “Nothing esoteric is meant by this expression [self]. It means merely that a human being can be an object of his own action . . . he acts toward himself and guides himself in his actions toward others on the basis of the kind of object he is to himself ” It’s a process, not a thing

Erving Goffman Crucial discrepancy between our all-too-human selves and our socialized selves Focus on dramaturgy: social life as a series of dramatic performances Self as product of dramatic interaction between actor and audience ‘Impression management’ Front stage Setting Personal front Appearance Manner Discrepancy close to Meads me and I Setting is physical scene: doctor  operating room Personal front: equipment: white coat = appearance Manner:what sort of role the performer expects to play

Erving Goffman Mystification The team Back stage Outside Role distance Stigma: gap virtual – actual social identity Frame analysis: structures that invisibly govern everyday situations, Frames: principles of organization that define our experiences Myst: social distance Staging done by teams Role distance = degree to which individuals seperate themselves from the roles they are in

Herbert Blumer Critical of ‘sociological determinism’ Essence of society to be found in actors and action  joint action (Mead: Social act): comes to have character of its own, but created by actors and their actions People do not really act within the context of structures such as society, rather they act in situations. 3 Premises: Human beings act toward things on the basis of the meaning that things have for them The meaning of such things is derived from/arises out of social interaction (the source of meaning) These meanings are handled in/modified through an interpretative process used by a person (Interpretation) Sociological determinism: where Goffman was headed in the end The source of meaning: interactive creation: meaning grows out of the ways in which other persons act toward the person with regard to the thing (some kind of shared message)

Questions Do you think Goffman is right with his impression management? Are we really stigmatized? If yes, how?