symbolic interactionism

• symbols vs instincts

  mead - human behaviour is shaped not by instincts but instead by creating and inhabiting a world of meanings

  • we have an interpretive phase between stimulus and response in which we interpret the meaning of the stimulus in order to choose the correct response
• taking the role of the other

  mead - we interpret other people's meanings by taking the role of the other - putting ourselves in their place and seeing ourselves as they see us

  • this ability first develops through social interaction, which we do first as young children through imitative play eg. mums and dads or doctors and nurses
  • in order to function we need to see ourselves as others see us through shared symbols, especially language
  • this allows us to become counscious of the ways others require us to act
• the three principles

  blumer - there are three key principles to mead's ideas

  1. our actions are based on the meanings we give to actions, people etc
  2. these meanings arise from the interaction process, and are to an extent negotiable and changeable
  3. meanings are the result of interpretive procedures we use, especially taking the role of the other

  in contradiction to structuralists like functionalists blumer argues that our actions are partly predictable becase we internalise expectations, but aren't completely fixed as there is room for choice, apart from strict total institutions eg. prisons
• labelling theory

  the most well-known application of interactionist ideas is labelling theory, which uses interactionist ideas in the study of many areas of society. there are three key interactionist principles underpinning the theory

  • the definition of the situation
  • the looking-glass self
  • career
• the definition of the situation

  thomas - if people define a situation as real it will have real consequences

  • if we believe something is true, this belief will affect how we act which may in turn have consequences for those involved
• the looking-glass self

  cooley - our self-concept arises from the ability to take the role of the other

  • taking the role of the other allows us to see ourselves as we are perceived - we see ourselves mirrored the way people respond to us
  • this is the root of the self-fulfilling prophecy as through viewing themselves through how others see them people internalise those views
• career

  becker + lemert - the concept of career is extended to more different groups as there are stages to labelling

  • each stage has its own status and problems, and any one stage can become someone's master status
  • this theory has been accused of determinism as our actions are shaped by the way others perceive ourselves
• dramaturgical model


  goffman - alternatively describes how we actively construct our self-concept through manipulating other people's impression of us

  • often uses analogies with drama as a framework for analysing social interaction
  • our aim is to carry out convincing performances of the roles we adapt
• impression management

  goffman - we seek to present a particular image to our audiences which requires constantly studying our audience to see how they respond to us, and adjusting our performance to convey a convincing image

  • we have many techniques like language, tone and facial expressions to pass as the kind of person we want the audience to believe we are
  • there are places like workplaces where we put on a role-performance, and places where we can drop the act
  • however these places may just be where we enact a new role
• roles

  goffman - where functionalists see roles as tightly scripted and internalised, goffman views there being a gap or role distance between our real self and our roles

  • roles are loosely scripted by society and we have a good deal of freedom about how we play them
  • this also means we don't always believe in the roles we play so performance may be cynical
• evaluation

  avoids the determinism of structural theories HOWEVER

  • may be more of a loose collection of descriptive concepts rather than a full theory
  • focuses on face-to-face interactions rather that larger social structures, and fails to explain consistent patterns of behaviour
  • reynolds - a questionnaire to 84 interactionists, there was very little agreement between them which concepts were the most important
  • not all action is meaningful
  • dramaturgical model has limitations eg. everyone plays both actor and audience
  • ethnomethodology - fails to explain how meanings are created