George Herbert Mead's Theory Of Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic interactionism is a theory is defined as, ”a theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning,

Symbolic interactionism is a sociological perspective focused on the meaning people associate to objects, events and

Symbolic interactionism perspective is a theory that is used to study social life. To do this, this theory relies on studying and observing the interactions among people and how they form meanings to things from those interactions. Although, there is much more to this theory than that. Blumer, the man who invented the term symbolic interactionism, presented three premises which help to understand this theory. The first one is, people act a certain way towards things depending on their meaning for that thing. The second premise is that we get meanings from social interaction, so we are taught meanings or we witness them from others. Lastly, the third premise is that meanings are able to change because people have the mental capacity to

Symbolic Interactionist approach falls between meaning making and socio cultural position. It is through communicating and interaction

Symbolic Interactionism (1)- The theory of symbolic interactionism conveys how society is made up of symbols that create meaning, develop communication, and produce world views. At the North Hanover Mall all interactions and even moods were established because of simple symbols. The overall mood of the mall was almost the same form person to person, a look of boredom was on the faces of many whether young or old. The attitude seemed to appear in people shortly after they entered the mall, once they had observed other individual’s body language and expressions, they shifted theirs as if they were trying to fit in with the crowd. Contrastingly when an employee

Symbolic interactionism is a theoretical perspective that people use definitions, meanings, symbols, interpretations, and human interactions to compare themselves to others (Henslin, 2010, p. 15). Herbert Blumer, whom attended University of Chicago with one of the founders of the

Symbolic interactionism can be easily described as the “interactions of individuals with the larger institutions of social structure” (Ainbinder, 2015 p. 20). It can also be explained as focusing on ways, which meanings emerge through human life (symbolic interactionism, 2003 para. 2). In everyday life, it represents that people are repeatedly observing and understanding through their social interactions (Ainbinder, 2015 p. 20). Symbolic Interactionism can be defined in many ways, simply it means that everyday we are observing our surroundings.

Symbolic interactionism focuses on the language and symbols that help us give meaning to the experiences in life. It also studies how people discuss the meaning of social life during interactions

The Symbolic Interaction theory refers to ways in which a family or society attaches meaning to verbal communication, non-verbal communication, people, and objects. We are taught from a young age communication using verbal language and accepted ways to express our needs. The theory represents perception of objects or actions (Macionis, 2007, p.17).

Herbert Blumer, the first person to use the term symbolic interactionism, once suggested three basic premises for it. He put the first one as “humans act toward a thing on the basis of the meaning they assign to the thing” , which is to say that human’s perceptions and behaviors are not directly determined by objects or phenomena in the physical

“Symbolic interaction refers to the patterns of communication, interpretation and adjustment between individuals,” (Baird and Kaufmann) humans will interpret different meanings in everyday life, from having a conversation or using their

Symbolic Interactionism is described in the book as the ongoing use of languages and gestures in anticipation of how the other will react. Basically this theory is how we use every day verbal and nonverbal language to interact with others and create meanings. These interactions can bring different meanings depend on the relationship and how the sender uses the symbols. It can also mean different things based on the culture and the society. A moment I can recall where I experienced symbolic interaction was when I first seen my girlfriend. She signaled to me asking for help by interlocking her fingers and holding them under her chin. She was about to get tossed in a pool at a party we were and if I didn 't recognize her sign for help she would have gotten soaked that day.

The main idea of symbolic interactionism is that communication with others is based upon the use of language and significant symbols. The focus is on the individual’s opinion and how this is used to create their own perspective of the world. Whereas macro level frameworks seek to explain how institutions have an impact on individuals (Carter and Fuller, 2015). Meads ideas, influenced by Cooley’s “looking-glass self” (American Sociological Association, 2016), comes from the idea about one’s self and its relationship to society, Mead proposed that in given situations people act based upon the symbolic meanings that have arose in the

Symbolic interactionism as a term was coined by Herbert Blumer to further develop the theories of George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton Cooley. This perspective gives priority to the importance of understanding the meanings of social action. This framework works with the belief that human social behaviour is based on symbolic meanings that are found within a given situation (Tepperman et al., 2013 p.369). Symbolic interactionism, being a form of microsociology, focuses attention on the smallest systems of society, being individual people and their interaction. Symbolic interactionists, like all microsociologists, see society

Symbolic interaction offers a dramaturgical perspective of how people identify and create their social self through social interaction. Many social theorist studies social interaction/ self as a function to our society. In addition, microsociology develop the idea of applying social interaction on a smaller sample size within the society. Therefore, there were an increase in the study of human interaction and the self. Mead develop his idea through symbolic interaction and social psychology of the human mind. Simmel develop his idea through the perspective of symbolic interaction of urban sociology. Both sociologist focus on the inter social aspect of the human life.