Symbolic Interactionism

(George Herbert Mead)

- analysis of subjective meanings that people impose on objects, events, and behaviors

- society is thought to be constructed through human interpretation

- biggest difference between humans and animals = human capacity to use language and create social reality

1) human beings possess the capacity for thought, which is shaped by social interaction

2) people learn meanings and symbols through social interaction

3) people are able to modify or alter the meanings and symbols they use in interactions by interpreting the situations they are engaged in

humans have thoughts --> thoughts are shaped by social interaction --> social interaction teaches humans symbols --> symbols allow humans to interact --> when interacting, humans can modify symbols based on interpretation of situation --> people can modify symbols because of their ability to interact with themselves and examine possible outcomes --> these patterns of action and interaction make up groups and societies

- pragmatism

- psychological behaviorism

- a reasonable and logical way of doing things or thinking about problems that is based on dealing with specific situations instead of ideas/theories

- people are likely to alter what no longer "works"

- true reality does not exist "out there" in the real world;

"it is actively created as we act in and toward the world"

3 Themes

that Mead adopted from the pragmatists

1) a focus on the interaction between actors and the social world

2) a view of both actors and the social world as dynamic processes

3) the centrality of actors' ability to interpret the social world

Mind, Self, and Society

by George Herbert Mead (1934)

- priority to society over mind (social leads to development of mental states)

- mind is a process, not a thing

(mind is found in social phenomena rather than within individuals)

- act is fundamental thing

4 Stages of Action

(Mead)

1. impulse

2. perception

3. manipulation

4. consummation

- ability to take oneself as an object

- we develop ourselves through reflexivity (the ability to put ourselves into the place of others and act as they act)

- can only arise through social experiences

the ability to put ourselves into the place of others and act as they act

(to see ourselves as others see us)

2 stages of childhood

(Mead)

- play stage (I): children play by themselves

- game stage (me): children play with others in much more complex way, presupposes understanding rules

"I"

(Mead)

- the immediate response of an individaul to the other

- unpredictable and creative aspect of self

"me" --> aka "generalized other"

(Mead)

- organized set of attitude of others that an individual assumes

- how society dominates the individual and is a source of social control

The Looking-Glass Self

(Cooley)

- helps us to perceive the impressions we make on others we interact with

- we imagine how we appear to others

- we imagine what their judgment of that must be

- we develop some self-feeling, such as pride or mortification, as a result of imagining others' judgments

The Presentation of Self In Everyday Life

by Erving Goffman

- dramaturgy

- a view of social life as a series of dramatic performances

- How is the self shaped by the dramatic interactions between social actors and their audience?

- impressions management: involves techniques actors use to maintain certain impressions in the face of problems they are likely to encounter and methods they use to cope with these problems

impressions management

(Goffman)

stigma

(Goffman)

- gap between a person's virtual social identity and actual social identity

- evident (loss of a nose) vs. discreditable (infertility)

- relies too much on qualitative methodology, not enough quantitative

- too vague, downplays large social structures

- ignores psychological factors