SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
Sociologyindex, Sociology Books 2009
Symbolic interactionism is a sociological perspective that stresses the
way societies are created through the interactions of individuals.
Unlike both the consensus (structural functionalist) and conflict
perspectives, symbolic interactionism does not stress the idea of a social system
possessing structure and regularity, but focuses on the way that individuals, through
their interpretations of social situations and behavioural negotiation with others, give
meaning to social interaction.
George H. Mead (1863-1931), a founder of symbolic interactionism, saw
interaction as creating and recreating the patterns and structures that bring society to
life, but more recently there has been a tendency to argue that society has no objective
reality aside from individual interaction.
This latter view has been criticized for ignoring the role of culture
and social structure in giving shape, direction and meaning to social interaction.
Symbolic Interactionism
Author: Dawn Del Carlo - introchem.chem.okstate.edu
Abstract: Originally conceived of by Herbert Blumer, symbolic interactionism is a
theoretical and methodological perspective that seeks to understand the socially
constructed meaning behind human behavior and interaction.
Grounded within the tenets of social psychology, it can be used as a framework to shape
educational research in the sciences.
A brief history of symbolic interaction’s development, a description of its
assumptions and methods, and its direct applicability to science education research
including examples of published research will be discussed.
Ken Plummer, "Symbolic Interactionism in the Twentieth Century,"
Chap. 8 in B. Turner, ed., Blackwell Companion to Social Theory
Herbert Blumer, Symbolic Interactionism:
Perspective and Method (Prentice-Hall, 1969)
The
Deviant Mystique : Involvements, Realities, and Regulation
Book by Robert Prus, Scott Grills. Adopting a symbolic interactionist perspective and
building extensively on the ethnographic research tradition, this book analyzes the
mystique that often accompanies deviance by examining deviance as an ongoing feature of
community life. Because deviance is approached in nonprescriptive ways, as a product of
community interchange, the emphasis here is on the ways in which deviance is defined,
engaged, and regulated.
The conflict perspective, symbolic
interactionism, and the status characteristics hypothesis
Author: Triplett, Ruth - ingentaconnect.com
Abstract: Though recent theorists acknowledge the dual theoretical foundation of the
labeling perspective, they limit their focus in discussions of the status characteristics
hypothesis of labeling to the influence of the conflict perspective, to the relative
neglect of symbolic interactionism. In view of the acknowledged influence of the conflict
perspective on the status characteristics hypothesis, this paper demonstrates the
importance of symbolic interactionism to the status characteristics hypothesis in three
ways: by demonstrating the limits of the conflict perspective in predicting variations in
reaction, especially at the level of informal reaction; by demonstrating the contribution
of symbolic interactionism; and by empirically testing hypotheses derived from the
theoretical work concerning the determinants of parents' reactions that label their
children delinquent. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the
findings for the labeling perspective.
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