Symbolic Interactionism The Basics

This book is a survey of Symbolic Interaction. In thirteen short chapters, it traces the history, the social philosophical roots, the founders, “movers and shakers” and evolution of the theory. Symbolic Interactionism: The Basics takes the reader along the exciting, but tortuous journey of the theory and explores both the meta-theoretical and mini-theoretical roots and branches of the theory. Symbolic interactionism or sociological social psychology traces its roots to the works of United States sociologists George Hebert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley, and Herbert Blumer, and a Canadian sociologist, Erving Goffman; Other influences are Harold Garfinkel’s Ethnomethodology and Austrian-American Alfred Schutz’s study of Phenomenology. Symbolic Interactionism: Basics explores the philosophical sources of symbolic interactionism, including pragmatism, social behaviorism, and neo-Hegelianism. The intellectual origins of symbolic interactions can be attributed to the works of William James, George Simmel, John Dewey, Max Weber, and George Herbert Mead. Mead is believed to be the founder of the theory, although he did not publish any academic work on the paradigm. The book highlights the works of the intellectual heirs of symbolic interactionism— Herbert Blumer, Mead’s former student, who was instrumental in publishing the lectures his former professor posthumously with the title Symbolic Interactionism, Erving Goffman and Robert Park.

Using a unique step-by-step,integrated approach, this book organizes the basic concepts of symbolic interactionism in such a way that readers understand them clearly and are able toapply them to their own lives. It emphasizes the active side of human beings-humans as definers and users of the environment, humans as problem solvers and in control of their own actions-and it shows students how society makes us, and how we in turn shape society. Each chapter examines a single concept, but relates that concept to the whole perspective and to other concepts in the perspective. Chapter titles include The Perspective of Social Science, Symbolic Interactionism as a Perspective, The Meaning of the Symbol, The Importance of the Symbol, The Nature of Self, The Human Mind, Taking the Role of the Other, Human Action, Social Interaction, and Society. For individuals interested in the study of social psychology and/or social theory.

This is a collection of articles dealing with the point of view of symbolic interactionism and with the topic of methodology in the discipline of sociology. It is written by the leading figure in the school of symbolic interactionism, and presents what might be regarded as the most authoritative statement of its point of view, outlining its fundamental premises and sketching their implications for sociological study. Blumer states that symbolic interactionism rests on three premises: that human beings act toward things on the basis of the meanings of things have for them; that the meaning of such things derives from the social interaction one has with one's fellows; and that these meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process.

Symbolic interactionism has a long history in sociology, social psychology, and related social sciences. In this volume, the editors and contributors explain its history, major theoretical tenets and concepts, methods of doing symbolic interactionist work, and its uses and findings in a host of substantive research areas.

This book is a survey of Symbolic Interaction. In thirteen short chapters, it traces the history, the social philosophical roots, the founders, “movers and shakers” and evolution of the theory. Symbolic Interactionism: The Basics takes the reader along the exciting, but tortuous journey of the theory and explores both the meta-theoretical and mini-theoretical roots and branches of the theory. Symbolic interactionism or sociological social psychology traces its roots to the works of United States sociologists George Hebert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley, and Herbert Blumer, and a Canadian sociologist, Erving Goffman; Other influences are Harold Garfinkel’s Ethnomethodology and Austrian-American Alfred Schutz’s study of Phenomenology. Symbolic Interactionism: Basics explores the philosophical sources of symbolic interactionism, including pragmatism, social behaviorism, and neo-Hegelianism. The intellectual origins of symbolic interactions can be attributed to the works of William James, George Simmel, John Dewey, Max Weber, and George Herbert Mead. Mead is believed to be the founder of the theory, although he did not publish any academic work on the paradigm. The book highlights the works of the intellectual heirs of symbolic interactionism— Herbert Blumer, Mead’s former student, who was instrumental in publishing the lectures his former professor posthumously with the title Symbolic Interactionism, Erving Goffman and Robert Park.

Symbolic interactionism is one of the most enduring - and certainly the most sociological - of all social psychologies. In this landmark work, Norman K. Denzin traces its tortured history from its roots in American pragmatism to its present-day encounter with poststructuralism and postmodernism. Arguing that if interactionism is to continue to thrive and grow it must incorporate elements of post structural and post-modern theory into its underlying views of history, culture and politics, the author develops a research agenda which merges the interactionist sociological imagination with the critical insights on contemporary feminism and cultural studies. Norman Denzin's programmatic analysis of symbolic interactionism, which develops a politics of interpretation merging theory and practice, will be welcomed by students and scholars in a wide range of disciplines, from sociology to cultural studies.

This reader shows the rich history and wide contemporary application of symbolic interaction theory.

This book, originally published in 1980 and reprinted here with a new foreword from the author, succinctly and clearly developed a well-argued case for symbolic interaction as a method and as a theory of human social behavior. It treats historical as well as contemporary figures and presents the author's original and stimulating assessment of the merits, shortcomings and future of symbolic interactionism. "Sheldon Stryker's Symbolic Interactionism not only reviews the key figures who founded this tradition, but more fundamentally, it also presents a formal theory. This theory still represents one of the most important statements within the symbolic interactionist tradition. In this theory, Stryker attempts to explain the dynamics of identity formation, particularly the salience of an identity, the consequences of identity for role performances, and the shifting commitments to a particular identity. Like all important theories, this one is timeless and continues to inform theory and research in the social sciences." Jonathan H. Turner, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of California, Riverside. "This is the book that brought structural symbolic interaction theory to the attention of sociologists and social psychologists around the country and the world. While recognizing the key importance of meanings and definitions of the situation, Stryker's discussion of his eight postulates forms the basis for understanding how and why the self is always embedded in society. This book is a remarkable achievement." Peter J. Burke, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of California, Riverside, California. "Stryker's classic monograph has never been surpassed as a clear, focused exposition of his identity theory and of the agenda for structural symbolic interactionists more generally as they aim for a general theory of self, meaning and action. He brings interactionism to bear on central sociological questions about how social positions become incorporated into the self and shape our social interactions. This is a core statement of the historic roots of symbolic interaction, from one of its major figures. Stryker evaluates the field as it stood in 1980, and clearly states the structure of his own version of interactionism. He shows how symbolic interactionist thought can be used to develop a productive, empirical scientific study of social behavior. As a powerful, forward-looking critique, appreciation and theoretical agenda, this monograph is as useful today as it was when it was originally published." Lynn Smith-Lovin, Duke University Dr. Sheldon Stryker is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Indiana University, semi-retired in 2002 after 51 years on the faculty there. A career-long student of social psychology in general and symbolic interactionism in particular, he has received the Cooley-Mead Award for Lifetime Contributions to Social Psychology from the American Sociological Association Section on Social Psychology and the George Herbert Mead Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. He remains an active contributor to the theoretical and research literature in social psychology. He has been editor of the ASA's American Sociological Review, Sociometry (now Social Psychology Quarterly) and the Arnold and Carolyn Rose Monograph Series; and he has been a Social Science Research Council Fellow, a Fulbright Research Scholar, and a Fellow, Center for Advances Studies in the Behavioral Sciences.

Using a unique step-by-step, integrated approach, this text organizes the basic concepts of symbolic interactionism in such a way that students understand them clearly and are able to apply them to their own lives. It emphasizes the active side of human beings-humans as definers and users of the environment, humans as problem solvers and in control of their own actions-and it shows students how society makes us, and how we in turn shape society.