Sociology

SociologyThe Interactionist

The Three Main Sociological Perspectives Theories in sociology provide us with different perspectives with which to view our social world. A perspective is simply a way of looking at the world. A theory is a set of interrelated propositions or principles designed to answer a question or explain a particular phenomenon; it provides us with a perspective. Sociological theories help us to explain and predict the social world in which we live. Sociology includes three major theoretical perspectives: the functionalist perspective, the conflict perspective, and the symbolic interactionist perspective (sometimes called the interactionist perspective, or simply the micro view). Each perspective offers a variety of explanations about the social world and human behaviour.

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

Both the functionalist and the conflict perspectives are concerned with how broad aspects of society, such as institutions and large social groups, influence the social world. This level of sociological analysis is called macro sociology: It looks at the big picture of society and suggest show social problems are affected at the institutional level. Micro sociology, another level of sociological analysis, is concerned with the social psychological dynamics of individuals interacting in small groups. Symbolic interactionism reflects the micro-sociological perspective, and was largely influenced by the work of early sociologists and philosophers, such as George Simmel, Charles Cooley, George Herbert Mead, and Erving Goffman. Symbolic interactionism emphasizes that human behaviour is influenced by definitions and meanings that are created and maintained through symbolic interaction with others.

The symbolic interactionist perspective, also known as symbolic interactionism, directs sociologists to consider the symbols and details of everyday life, what these symbols mean, and how people interact with each other. Although symbolic interactionism traces its origins to Max Weber's assertion that individuals act according to their interpretation of the meaning of their world, the American philosopher George H. Mead (18631931) introduced this perspective to American sociology in the 1920s.

According to the symbolic interactionist perspective, people attach meanings to symbols, and then they act according to their subjective interpretation of these symbols. Verbal conversations, in which spoken words serve as the predominant symbols, make this subjective interpretation especially evident. The words have a certain meaning for the sender, and, during effective communication, they hopefully have the same meaning for the receiver. In other terms, words are not static things; they require intention and interpretation. Conversation is an interaction of symbols between individuals who constantly interpret the world around them. Of course, anything can serve as a symbol as long as it refers to something beyond itself. Written music serves as an example. The black dots and lines become more than mere marks on the page; they refer to notes organized in such a way as to make musical sense. Thus, symbolic interactionists give serious thought to how people act, and then seek to determine what meanings individuals assign to their own actions and symbols, as well as to those of others.

Consider applying symbolic interactionism to the American institution of marriage. Symbols may include wedding bands, vows of lifelong commitment, a white bridal dress, a wedding cake, a Church ceremony, and flowers and music. American society attaches general meanings to these symbols, but individuals also maintain their own perceptions of what these and other symbols mean. For example, one of the spouses may see their circular wedding rings as symbolizing never ending love, while the other may see them as a mere financial expense. Much faulty communication can result from differences in the perception of the same events and symbols.Critics claim that symbolic interactionism neglects the macro level of social interpretationthe big picture. In other words, symbolic interactionists may miss the larger issues of society by focusing too closely on the trees (for example, the size of the diamond in the wedding ring) rather than the forest (for example, the quality of the marriage). The perspective also receives criticism for slighting the influence of social forces and institutions on individual interactions.

Basic Principles of InteractionismThe Interactionist perspective is usually considered to consist of three related "sub-perspectives" (Phenomenology, Symbolic Interaction and Ethnomethodology). Only a basic understanding of the overall perspective is required. You are not expected to have a detailed knowledge and understanding of each of these sub-perspectives.Human behaviour is a product of the way we interpret the social world on a daily basis. The social world is created and recreated by people going about their lives.

2. The way in which people interpret and give meaning to the behaviour of others is a significant factor in the understanding of the social world.

3. "Society" is seen as an "elaborate fiction" that we create in order to help us to make sense of the bewildering range of behaviour that we experience on a daily basis. "Society" does not have an objective existence, as such, since it is experienced subjectively by people.

4. For Mead, social life consists of people interacting (that is, behaving with reference to each other-taking note of the way people behave towards each other), setting-up mutual expectations-or norms-and then acting with reference to these norms.

5. The concept of categorisation is important because people classify various similar phenomena in their daily lives in order to make sense of these phenomena.6. The process of labelling (giving names to the phenomena we classify) is significant because the labels we create (mother, criminal, insane and the like) help us to define (or stereotype) the nature of the social categories we create. In modern societies people tend to behave towards each other on the basis of the labels that each person attracts from others.

7. Some labels are termed "master labels" because they are so powerful they condition every aspect of our behaviour towards the person so labelled. Examples of master labels in our society might be: Criminal, homosexual, heterosexual, mad and so forth. The labels we attract (either through choice (achievement) or through being given them (ascription) are important because people's knowledge of a label serves to unlock the assumptions we hold about particular social categories. This conditions the way in which we feel it is appropriate to behave towards a person.

8. For Interactionists, social order is: a. Ultimately a product of our mind (we make ourselves believe that the social world has order and predictability and, by so doing, help to convince each other by our actions that this is indeed the case).

b. Real only for as long as we are able to individually and collectively maintain this belief. In this respect, for as long as people define a situation as real it will be real in its consequences...

9. All social interaction involves meanings and interpretations and the Interactionist perspective highlights the way in which the social world is actively constructed.Contributions of sociologist to the Interactionist perspectiveGeorge Herbert Mead

George Herbert MeadHerbert pioneered the development of symbolic interaction perspective.Meads Theory of the self:George Meads theory of the social self is based on the argument that the self is a social emergent. Meads theory states that individual selves are the products of social interaction and not the logical or biological preconditions of that interaction. It arises in the process of social experience and action; hence it is not originally there at birth. According to Mead, there are three activities through which the self is developed: Language, play, and game

Meads concept of the generalized other is also essential to his theory, which defines and organized and generalized attitude of a social group.George Herbert Mead is also well-known for his concept of the I and the me.This states that the self as 2 sides. The me represents the expectations and attitudes of others and I is the response to me.

Charles Cooley

Charles Cooley

Cooleys theory of the looking glass self, states that our self-concepts and identities are a reflection of how other people perceive us. Whether our beliefs about how others perceive us are true or not, it is those beliefs that truly shape our ideas about ourselves. Our internalization of the reactions of others towards us is more important than reality. Further, this self-idea has three principle elements: our imagination of how others see our appearance; our imagination of the others judgment of our appearance; and some sort of self-feeling, such as pride or mortification, determined by our imagination of the others judgment of us.

Erving Goffman

Erving Goffman

Goffman was the Major figure in the symbolic interaction perspective. Goffman pioneered the study of face-to-face interaction, also known as micro-sociology, which he made famous inThe Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. He used theatre to show the importance of human and social action. All actions, he argued, are social performances that aim to give off and maintain certain desired impressions of the self to others. In social interactions, humans are actors on a stage playing a performance for an audience. The only time that individuals can be themselves and get rid of their role or identity in society is backstage where no audience is present.

Georg Simmel

26Georg Simmel

Simmel was a precursor ofurban sociology,symbolic interactionismandsocial networkanalysis. Simmel is best known as a microsociologist who played a significant role in the development of small-group research. Simmel's basic approach can be described as "methodological relationism," because he operates on the principle that everything interacts in some way with everything else. His essay on fashion, for example, notes that fashion is a form of social relationship that allows those who wish to conform to do so while also providing the norm from which individualistic people can deviate. Within the fashion process, people take on a variety of social roles that play off the decisions and actions of others. On a more general level, people are influenced by both objective culture (the things that people produce) and individual culture (the capacity of individuals to produce, absorb, and control elements of objective culture). Simmel believed that people possess creative capacities (more-life) that enable them to produce objective culture that transcends them. But objective culture (more-than-life) comes to stand in irreconcilable opposition to the creative forces that have produced it in the first place.

William Isaac Thomas

William Isaac Thomas

Sociologist William Isaac Thomas ([1931] 1966) emphasized the importance of definitions and meanings in social behaviour and its consequences. He suggested that humans respond to their definition of a situation rather than to the objective situation itself. Hence, Thomas noted that situations we define as real become real in their consequences. InThe Unadjusted Girl(1923) he developed the concept of the "definition of the situation": "Preliminary to any self-determined act of behaviour, there is always a stage of examination and deliberation which we may call the definition of the situation..." The individual's definition of the situation is always subject to "a rivalry between the spontaneous

definition of the situation made by members of an organized society and the definition which his society has provided for him.. The individual tends to a hedonistic selection of activity, pleasure first; and society to a utilitarian selection, safety first." Along with the ideas ofGeorge Herbert Mead, Thomas' concept of the definition of the situation later proved to be an important part of the rebellion ofsymbolic interactionismagainst structural functionalism.