Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic Interactionism Of George Herbert Mead Chapter 4 of Em Griffin (4th ed)

CLICKER QUESTION According to symbolic interactionism, the meaning we get from talking to someone is found in the words uttered. A = TRUE B = FALSE

Symbolic Interactionism • Mead was a philosophy Professor at U. Of Chicago during the first third of the 20th century; • Mead thought that the true test of any theory is whether or not it is useful in solving complex social problems • After Mead died in 1934, his students wrote up his ideas in Mind, Self, and Society

Mead claimed the most human activity that people can engage in is talking to each other • Blumer stated 3 core principles of symbolic interactionism: • MEANING: THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL REALITY; • Language: The Source of Meaning • Thought: Taking the Role of the Other

Blumer starts with the premise that humans act toward people or things on the basis of the meanings they assign to those people or things; The construction of social reality refers to our perceptions, how we interpret things around us--what is real in social reality is what we perceive; Meaning

Blumer’s 2nd premise is that meaning arises out of the social interaction that people have with each other. Meaning is not inherent in objects. Meaning is negotiated through the use of language--hence the term symbolic interactionism Mead believed that symbolic naming is the basis for society; knowing and naming are closely linked together; Language

Symbolic interaction is not just a means for intelligent expression; it’s also the way we learn to interpret the world; [the story of the surgery who couldn’t operate on the boy, p. 55] The words we use have default assumptions; The subtle tyranny of symbols--we usually don’t consciously think about our mental jumps to the defaults. Language

Blumer’s 3rd premise is that an individual’s interpretation of symbols is modified by his/her own thought processes. Thinking is described as inner conversation, called Minding; Minding is reflecting, figuring out your next move, anticipating, testing alternatives; Mead’s greatest contribution to our understanding of the way we think is his notion that human beings have the uniquecapacity to take the role of the other. Thought: taking the Role of the Other

CLICKER QUESTION • Inner conversation plays no role in the communication process. A = TRUE B = FALSE

Taking the role of the other allows us to see our self; Through meaning (interpreting the world), language (social interaction), and thought (role taking) we arrive at the self (a reflection in a looking glass); We see our self not by introspection, but by taking the role of the other and imagining how we look to another person (the looking-glass self); Taking the Role of the Other

The Looking-Glass Self:from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Poem Emerson wrote that each close companion: Is to his friend a looking-glass Reflects his figure that doth pass

Self-concept derives from talk; one has to be a member of a community before consciousness of self sets in; The self changes--as we interact, our self changes; For Mead, the self consists of the “I” and the “me”; The “I” is the spontaneous driving force (we can’t observe it); The “me” is viewed as an object; The “I” of this moment is present in the “me” of the next moment (p. 58); According to the Looking-Glass Idea

The “I” of this moment is present in the “me” of the next moment The statement on the left means that: A. LIFE IS EVER CHANGING; B. WE ONLY KNOW OURSELVES THROUGH OTHERS; C. WHEN WE PERCEIVE OURSELF, WE ARE IN A DIFFERENT MENTAL STATE FROM OUR PERCEIVING MIND; CLICKER QUESTION

Community: The Socializing Effect of Other’s Expectations • The picture we get from the many looking-glass self reflections is called the generalized other; It is the “me”; • The “me” is formed through symbolic interaction with others--the “me” is the community within the person;

Creating Reality: Goffman’s idea that we are involved in a constant negotiation with others to publicly define our identity and the nature of the situation (the example of a gynecological examination); Meaning: Participant observation is recommended. Mead had little sympathy for clinically controlled behavioral experiments or checklist surveys; The results of expts and surveys are quantifiable but ignore the meaning of the experience for the person; Applied Interactionism

Naming: Name-calling can be devastating because the epithets force us to view ourselves in a warped mirror; The grotesque images aren’t easily dispelled; Self-fulfilling prophecy: Each of us has a significant impact on how others view themselves; The tendency for our expectations to evoke responses in others that confirm what we originally anticipated; Applied Interactionism

QUESTION • True or False • Self-concept derives from talk; one has to be a member of a community before consciousness of self sets in.

QUESTION • True or False • The words we use have default assumptions means that every word has many meanings and we choose the right one for the right situation.

Symbolic Interactionism