Symbolic Interactionism

Preplay Stage

It starts when a child is about two years old. Since meaning is rooted in the shared interpretation of symbols, the limited ability of children to take the role of others makes their action more imitative than meaningful.

GEORGE HERBERT MEAD

(1863 -1931) His view on the self lies at the core of symbolic interaction. In this view, an individual possesses a self that has a reflexive relation to the world around him.

CHARLES COOLEY

(1864 -1929) He introduced the concept of Looking Glass Self which describes how individual identify develops based on one's understanding of another's perception about him or her.

HERBERT BLUMER

(1900 -1987) He coined the term symbolic interactionism. He laid out three basic principles, focusing on meaning and emphasizing its importance, source, and role in interpretation. These basic premises demonstrate that the reality we deal with is constructed socially, and is an outcome of a continuous process of interaction in a given social setting.

Three elements of: LOOKING GLASS SELF

1. We imagine how we appear to others. 2. We imagine how others judge us on the basis of that appearance. 3. We may change our behavior depending on how we feel people perceive and judge us.

SELF

It is an outcome of social, interactions. It interprets the world and is thus an active actor, and not a passive container that simply receives and responds to stimuli. The me-constitutes the aspect of the self that is socialized to the expectations and attitudes of others. The me carries the generalized other, society is able to exercise its control over individuals. The I-is the acting and creative self that responds to a situation.

Self-development undergoes three stages:

PREPLAY STAGE PLAY STAGE GAME STAGE

BASIC PRINCIPLES AND KEY CONCEPTS

Symbolic interactionism emphasizes the importance of interaction in creating meaning. Through interaction with one another, people learn meanings behind symbols. Symbols represent or stand for something; OBJECTS, THINGS, ACTIONS, AND WORDS Language is another symbolic system. Socialization teaches individuals the different meanings of objects.

CRITIQUE OF THE SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST

The approach is credited for providing rich insight on the ways that individuals interact in small-scale everyday situations. It provide a deep understanding of the social bonds that form in society, and how it emerges through interactions, symbols communication, and the interpretation of the meanings. Symbolic interactionism fails to consider the influence of large social factors and institutions on individual behaviour. It discounts the systematic impact of these forces in creating a peculiar context, where the interactions, self, and symbols interface.

Play Stage

The children start to learn simple role-playing. This teaches a child to put himself in the position of others. The experience would enable him to learn, that an individual takes on a role when interacting with one another.

MEANING

The meanings we have of people and things define our action toward them. The meaning of things emerges from our social interaction with others. Meanings are social and cultural constructs and are thus created -not inherent -in things. Meaning-making and understanding is continuous process of interpretation. It may evolve or change in subsequent interactions. Interpretation is key to meaning-making. It goes beyond the simple stimulus-response formulation, in which individuals are construed as passive.

Game Stage

This stage usually involved several players. The game stage usually involves several players. Individuals in the game stage participate in complex and organized interactions that require them to understand and anticipate the moves of all the players in order to act.

Symbolic Interactionism

is an approach focusing on the everyday interactions between individuals. The word symbolic emphasizes that people communicate and interact using common set of symbols, which members of the group understand. Social understanding is dependent on the interpretation of the meaning. It determines the corresponding actions and behaviors of the people involved in the situation.