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Symbolic Interactionism - Notes

Symbolic interactionism is a sociological theory that explains how people's perceptions and interactions shape their actions. It focuses on the meanings that individuals assign to themselves, others, and objects based on social interactions. There are three core concepts: (1) the development of self through the objective "me" and subjective "I", (2) role-taking to understand others' perspectives, and (3) shared symbols like language that allow people to communicate and interpret experiences. Founders like George Herbert Mead and Herbert Blumer emphasized that meaning arises socially and people act based on their interpretations of symbols.

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989 views

Symbolic Interactionism - Notes

Symbolic interactionism is a sociological theory that explains how people's perceptions and interactions shape their actions. It focuses on the meanings that individuals assign to themselves, others, and objects based on social interactions. There are three core concepts: (1) the development of self through the objective "me" and subjective "I", (2) role-taking to understand others' perspectives, and (3) shared symbols like language that allow people to communicate and interpret experiences. Founders like George Herbert Mead and Herbert Blumer emphasized that meaning arises socially and people act based on their interpretations of symbols.

Uploaded by

Sheri Dan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Symbolic Interactionism

● attempts to explain how individuals choose how they will act on their perceptions
of themselves and of others.
● deals with an individual's behaviour based on their mental process
(psychology/micro theory).
●
Proponents:

George Herbert Mead was one of the founders of Symbolic Interactionism. He wrote a
book about Mind, Self, and Society.
Herbert Blumer - Mead’s chief disciple- coined the term symbolic interactionism.
According to him, communication is the most human and humanizing activity in which
people are engaged.

Symbolic Interactionists...

● give a meaning to everything in society (The meaning is their “symbol”).


● Once a person determines what something means to them, they will then decide
how to act.
● It is the perceptions or the meanings that people give to their experience of the
world that matter, not the social facts.

○ Example: If someone puts a hand on your shoulder, you will interpret the
gesture and determine what it means (symbolizes) before you respond.

● Only after the mental process of “giving meaning” do people act.


● Mental processes are not visible; only the actions that follow. Therefore,
symbolic interactionists attempt to understand the point of view of the actor to
explain the action (this means symbolic interactionists prefer qualitative methods
of research over quantitative methods).

Basic Premises:
• Humans act toward people or things on the basis of the meanings they assign to
those people or things
• Meaning arises out of the social interaction that people have with each other;
meaning is negotiated through language
• An individual’s interpretation of symbols is modified by his or her own thought
processes.
Three basic concepts of symbolic interactionism

1) The Self
● An individual develops a self that has two parts:
○ “ME” - (objective) concrete qualities such as height, eye colour, daughter,
etc.
○ “I” - (subjective) based on how feedback from others is interpreted (ie.
“good” student, funny, generous, etc.).

2) Role taking
● People must also “take the attitude of the other” to be able to anticipate what the
other person will do and decide how to should respond. Role taking is the basis
for human interaction.

3) Shared symbols
● People are able to interact effectively only if they can communicate using a
common language (i.e. shared symbols).
● Language (or symbols) are the means by which individuals interpret and give
meaning to their experiences of self and others in order to interact in
relationships.
○ Example: The book, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus explains
that men and women have problems in relationships because each gives
different meanings to actions and words (symbols) which confuses the
opposite sex.

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