structural functionalism and symbolic interactionist theories related

Social scientists who apply symbolic-interactionist thinking look for patterns of interaction between individuals. A symbolic interactionist would be interest in the interactions between these protestors and the messages they communicate. This image shows janitorial workers on strike in Santa Monica, California. In symbolic interactionism, people actively shape their social world. If you love books, for example, a symbolic interactionist might propose that you learned that books are good or important in the interactions you had with family, friends, school, or church maybe your family had a special reading time each week, getting your library card was treated as a special event, or bedtime stories were associated with warmth and comfort. This sounds close to Cooley’s looking-glass self, but Mead’s contribution was really to the development of self, especially in childhood, which we’ll discuss in more detail when we address theories of socialization. Mead’s student, Herbert Blumer, actually coined the term “symbolic interactionism” and outlined these basic premises: humans interact with things based on meanings ascribed to those things the ascribed meaning of things comes from our interactions with others and society the meanings of things are interpreted by a person when dealing with things in specific circumstances (Blumer 1969). George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) is considered a founder of symbolic interactionism, though he never published his work on this subject (LaRossa and Reitzes 1993).

“Looking-glass” is an archaic term for a mirror, so Cooley theorized that we “see” ourselves when we interact with others. Symbolic interactionism is a micro-level theory that focuses on meanings attached to human interaction, both verbal and non-verbal, and to symbols. Communication-the exchange of meaning through language and symbols-is believed to be the way in which people make sense of their social worlds.Ĭharles Horton Cooley introduced the looking-glass self (1902) to describe how a person’s self of self grows out of interactions with others, and he proposed a threefold process for this development: 1) we see how others react to us, 2) we interpret that reaction (typically as positive or negative) and 3) we develop a sense of self based on those interpretations. Sociological Paradigm #3: Symbolic Interactionist Theory

Structural functionalism and symbolic interactionist theories related