Theoretical Ideas Associated With Symbolic Interactionism
Summary of the major theoretical ideas associated with symbolic interactionism
Symbolic interactionism refers to a micro-level theory focusing on the interactions among people within a society. The theory observes society as an element of symbols used by individuals to establish meaning, communicate with each other, and develop a view or an observation about the world. Generally, the theory holds that people are thinking beings are acting according to various means of interpreting situations. This essay presents the major theoretical ideas that are associated with symbolic interactionism. It also provides a comment on how symbolic interactionism is connected to the sociology of emotions.
George Herbert is regarded as the founder of the theory though he never made any publication work on it. His student’s coined the theory and abstracted its basic premises. These included;
- Humans or people relating to things relying on meanings attributed to those things
- The attributed meaning of things originates from our interrelations with society and other people.
- A sense of things is interpreted or clarified by an individual when tackling things in a given situation.
For instance, if a person loves books, a symbolic interactionist may make a proposal that you got or learned that books are essential or important based on the interactions that one had with his or her friends, church, or even school.
The key terms involved in this though, are role theory, behaviorism, and phenomenology. Role theory refers to the assumption that humans or individuals are foundationally conformists who strive to achieve the culture or norms accompanying their obligations or roles. This means that each member of the group looks into an individual’s performance to determine whether the performance conforms to a person’s conformed norms and make sanctions or regulation for misbehavior to ensure role performance.
Behaviorism refers to a psychology approach laying the focus on behavior, making an assumption that the conduct or behavior’s ability is determined through the environment. On the other hand, phenomenology refers to any philosophy relying on any phenomena’s intuitive experience. It is also based on the foundation that reality comprises events and objects as consciously understood by conscious beings such as humans.
The theory’s focus is in contrast to psychological theories on strict behaviorism that were prevalent during the time it was formulated. Symbolic interactionism asserts that humans or people are different from lower humans popularly known as the infrahuman since the lower animals simply respond to their surroundings or environment. This means that a stimulus brings to mind a stimulus that brings to mind response, and the response, in turn, evokes the stimulus. In contrast, people or humans possess the ability or the power to make an interruption on the process. This means that the stimulus leads to cognition, and it is through this cognition that a response is evoked.
Moreover, the lower animals or the infrahuman are normally not able to conceive or think of a substitute response to gestures. However, humans are in apposition to do so. This interpretation should not be regarded as an indicator that humans or people never behave or conduct themselves in a stern stimulus resulting in a response fashion, but that individuals have the power to respond or react in a distinct manner and do that too often.
Symbolic interactionism also relies on phenomenological thought. The theory asserts that the objective world usually possesses no reality for individuals. Aco0rding to the theory, only subjective objectives have meaning or explanation. It highlights that there exist no given objective reality and that there only exist possibly multiple and possibly conflicting understanding or interpretations of a condition. According to the perspective meanings are disregarded as entities bestowed on people and acquired through habituation, but instead can be altered following the individual abilities that people have. As a result, the individual’s influence or may cause the many meanings forming their society. Therefore, under the phenomenological notion, the society of humans is regarded as a social product.
The other idea presented by the theory is neurological evidence. The idea that relies on EGGS supports the idea that individuals possess a social brain, which means that the brain comprises of various components governing social interaction. The principle argues that the brain starts developing during the preschool years or early childhood and helps people comprehend how others think. In Herbert’s theory of symbolic interactionism, this thought is referred to as looking glass self or reflected appraisal. It normally refers to people’s ability or power to think about how other persons perceive or thinks about us. (Kotarba, 2015)
The reflected appraisal or looking glass self, which is a core principle in Herbert’s theory of symbolic interactionism, was developed by Charles Cooley. The idea states that our society acts as interworking and interweaving of mental selves. From the framework’s hypothesis that the mind is mental, we deduce that people’s minds are always social. For instance, during early childhood as a child, people define themselves within their socialization concept. As children, they learn that his or her crying symbol sparks a response from the caregiver or the parent. This is not only when they require something like food but also serves as a sign or symbol of seeking attention (Kotarba, 2015).
The reflected appraisal approach also describes oneself as assuming the tasks of their fellows, the basis for which individuality is actualized. Through interrelation or relating to others, humans develop a notion of who we are and empathy for others. It is through the notion that we find it best to do good to others, as we would also expect the same. Cooley, the devel0per of the notion asserts that things that usually move people to shame or pride are not the mere mechanical expressions about ourselves, but are the imputed sentiments, which are the imagined effects of the reflection upon other’s thinking or mind.
How symbolic interactionism is related to the sociology of emotions
Sociology of emotions states that emotions form key facets of our everyday interactions. The sociological emotions shape the agency, motivates conduct, and contribute to social control and self-control. The relationship between symbolic interactionism and sociological emotions as a theoretical approach or perspective is that emotions immeasurably contribute to understanding our social interactions, especially social inequality (Shott, 2015). From this notion, it is clear that emotions permeate human interactions, including the social ones, and not just as an epiphenomenon.
In conclusion, people should note that Herbert’s symbolic interactionism provides a particular methodology that observes meaning as the primary component of people’s and society’s interactions. Therefore, it is essential to note that social and human interaction requires an in-depth comprehension of that particular meaning.
References
Kotarba, J. A. (2015). Symbolic Interaction and Applied Social Research. Symbolic interactionism, 37(3), 412-425.
Shott, S. (2015). Emotion and Social Life: A Symbolic Interactionist Analysis. American Journal of Sociology, 1(1), 1895-2015.