Symbolic interactionism is a sociological theory holding that society and the self are not fixed, external structures but are continuously built and rebuilt through everyday interaction, in which people use shared symbols and language to interpret and respond to one another's actions. Its roots lie in George Herbert Mead's University of Chicago lectures on the social nature of mind and self, delivered from the 1890s until his death in 1931, drawing on the American pragmatist tradition. Mead never published a systematic statement of the theory or used the term; his students compiled his lectures into Mind, Self, and Society (1934) after his death. It was Mead's student Herbert Blumer who, in 1937, coined the term 'symbolic interactionism' and formalized it around three core premises: people act toward things based on the meanings those things hold, such meanings arise from social interaction, and meanings are actively interpreted and modified by the individual.
Facts
Core ClaimSourced to the subject's own accountSociety is constructed and continuously reconstructed through everyday face-to-face interaction, in which individuals act on the basis of meanings that arise from, and are modified through, their social and symbolic interactions with others. 1 Origin YearSourced to the subject's own accountTheoretical foundations laid by Mead from the 1890s through his death in 1931 (lectures published posthumously in 1934 as Mind, Self, and Society); the term itself was coined by Herbert Blumer in 1937. Level of AnalysisSourced to the subject's own account Core QuestionSourced to the subject's own account Disciplinary HomeSourced to the subject's own account Symbolic Interactionism
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Associated With
Ethnomethodology and symbolic interactionism are the two live microsociological paradigms this atlas groups under the same SubLabel band.
Social constructionism traces its roots to symbolic interactionism and phenomenology.
Source Wikipedia: Social Constructionism
Developed By
Source Wikipedia: Symbolic Interactionism
Institutions Informed
Becker and Lemert both worked in the Chicago-school interactionist tradition; labeling theory's claim that meaning (here, a deviant identity) is produced through social interaction rather than fixed in the act itself builds directly on symbolic interactionism's own premises.
Source Wikipedia: Labeling Theory
Kinship Systems Shaped
Source Wikipedia: Anselm Strauss
Source Edwin Sutherland (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Erving Goffman
Source George Herbert Mead (Wikipedia)
Source Herbert Blumer (Wikipedia)
Source Kathy Charmaz (Wikipedia)
Source Norman K. Denzin (Wikipedia)
Source W. I. Thomas (Wikipedia)
Open Questions
Source Wikipedia: Symbolic Interactionism
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Symbolic Interactionism
Wikipedia- Introduction and History section
- Introduction: "alludes to humans' particular use of shared language to create common symbols and meanings"
- History section, Herbert Blumer subsection
Lead paragraph
Symbolic interactionism is a sociological theory
Lead paragraph, level of analysis
It is particularly important in microsociology and social psychology
Lead paragraph, core question
humans' particular use of shared language to create common symbols and meanings
- Developed By: George Herbert Mead, History section
View the Source Wikipedia: Social Constructionism
George Herbert Mead (Wikipedia)
Kinship Systems Shaped: George Herbert Mead, LeadQuote, Kinship Systems Shaped: George Herbert Mead, Lead
He is regarded as one of the founders of symbolic interactionism, and was an important influence on what has come to be referred to as the Chicago School of Sociology.
Wikipedia: Erving Goffman
WikipediaKinship Systems Shaped: Erving Goffman, LeadQuote, Kinship Systems Shaped: Erving Goffman, Lead
His best-known contribution to social theory is his study of symbolic interaction.
Herbert Blumer (Wikipedia)
WikipediaKinship Systems Shaped: Herbert Blumer, LeadQuote, Kinship Systems Shaped: Herbert Blumer, Lead
Herbert George Blumer (March 7, 1900, April 13, 1987) was an American sociologist whose main scholarly interests were symbolic interactionism and methods of social research.
W. I. Thomas (Wikipedia)
WikipediaKinship Systems Shaped: W. I. Thomas, LeadQuote, Kinship Systems Shaped: W. I. Thomas, Lead
William Isaac Thomas (August 13, 1863, December 5, 1947) was an American sociologist, understood today as a key figure behind the theory of symbolic interactionism.
Wikipedia: Anselm Strauss
WikipediaKinship Systems Shaped: Anselm Strauss, LeadQuote, Kinship Systems Shaped: Anselm Strauss, Lead
He also wrote extensively on Chicago sociology/symbolic interactionism, sociology of work, social worlds/arenas theory, social psychology and urban imagery.
Kathy Charmaz (Wikipedia)
WikipediaKinship Systems Shaped: Kathy Charmaz, LeadQuote, Kinship Systems Shaped: Kathy Charmaz, Lead
Charmaz's areas of expertise included grounded theory, symbolic interactionism, chronicity, death and dying, qualitative health research, scholarly writing, sociological theory, social psychology, research methods, health and medicine, aging, sociology of emotions, and the body.
Norman K. Denzin (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationKinship Systems Shaped: Norman K. Denzin, Article text, Symbolic InteractionismQuote, Kinship Systems Shaped: Norman K. Denzin, Article text, Symbolic Interactionism
He was a leading scholar in the fields of symbolic interactionism, social psychology, and social science and had influenced a wide spectrum of perspectives.
Edwin Sutherland (Wikipedia)
Kinship Systems Shaped: Edwin Sutherland, Lead, school of thoughtQuote, Kinship Systems Shaped: Edwin Sutherland, Lead, school of thought
He was a sociologist of the symbolic interactionist school of thought
Open Questions (1 open question)
How faithfully does Herbert Blumer's formalized "symbolic interactionism" (1937 onward) represent George Herbert Mead's own thinking, given that Mead's own texts are themselves posthumous compilations of student lecture notes rather than a work Mead approved?
Mead never used the term "symbolic interactionism" and published no systematic statement of the theory in his lifetime; Mind, Self, and Society (1934) was assembled by his students from lecture notes after his death, and Blumer built and named the formal theory decades later, working from that posthumously edited material rather than a text Mead himself finalized, leaving open how much of "Meadian" theory is Mead's own view versus his editors' and Blumer's synthesis.
What would resolve this A comparison of surviving primary lecture transcripts and Mead's own published journal articles against Blumer's later three-premise formulation, checking which elements can be traced directly to Mead's own words versus editorial or Blumer's interpretive additions.
History of sociological theoryWikipedia: Symbolic Interactionism
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