Interactionist Theory Of The Yanoomamo Society

Sociology is the study the different aspects of humanity and society. It encompasses a very broad and varying range of topics. It can be studied on a large world-wide scale spanning across several countries, which is called Macrosociology. It can also be studied on a small scale looking at only individual families or neighborhoods, which is called Microsociology. Not only does it peer into humans’ interactions with each other but examines why they act the way they do. It considers the environment, as well as how access to different luxuries can contribute to the people that we become. In this fascinating field there are three primary views on exactly what the fundamental driving force behind society is. Symbolic Interactionalism, the belief that symbols and the meaning that they are given, define how we will perceive life, in this philosophy these meanings are influenced by society and the events of individual lives. Functional Analysis, views society as any other organism, in this theory all parts of the whole must work together cohesively to function. Conflict theory takes a somewhat opposite view than Functionalism, this perspective suggests that rather than wanting to work in unison, society’s underlying motive is a power struggle for resources. Over the course of this paper the reader will explore these different perspectives.

Throughout the article, Doing Fieldwork among the Yanomamo, by Napoleon A. Chagnon the reader is able to read along as if they were a real anthropologist’s on a journey throughout the villages of tropical forests in unoccupied lands. Changnon begins his writing explaining the culture and life style of the Yanamamö people. How their daily lives focus on gardening, hunting, visiting and completing tasks to get through the day. He describes their short life expectancy and the risks of violence between surrounding villages. The amount of men is exceedingly larger than the women, and often time’s men have multiple wives. Changon describes how each village is apart of broader political demographic. However he expresses how difficult it is to understand all of this simply from his descriptions.

According to Griffiths & et. al (2015), symbolic interactionism is a micro-level theory that focuses on the relationships among individuals within a society. Symbolic interactionism theory focuses on the way individuals communicate and interact with one another, which help them understand their environment and society. An example of symbolic interactionism can be viewed by what kind of mobile phone you have, what car you drive, or where you went to college. These are all types of symbols that our society uses to symbolize a person status or wealth. Another example is the social networking website FaceBook, which can serve as an online platform for users to create and spread their "symbolic" group with like minded individuals that view the world from the same lens.

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

All social interactions take place with a social structure, including those interactions that redefine social reality, for purposes of study, sociologist breaks down any social structure into six elements which are, Statues, Social Role, Groups, Social Networks, Virtual Worlds and Social Insinuations. Society is nothing more than the shared reality that people construct as they interact with other people, Society is a complex, ever-changing mosaic subjective meanings. Firstly, Status is a slot or position within a group or society. They tell us who people are and how they “fit” into groups, status can be ascribed or achieved. Secondly, Social roles are expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status, Thirdly Roles are a significant component of social structure, for Example her in Belize, we have the Belize Police Department, as to where by the police are expected to protect us and apprehend criminals. At fourth place we have Social Network which is the web of direct and indirect ties connecting an individual to other people who influence its

Even in the movies, sociology can be found. Most people think sociology is limited to just worldly problems, but it can be it can be a very broad term. Symbolic Interaction is a communication theory that states society and individuals are created based upon the interactions between each other. One Disney movie that stands out is Aladdin. I feel this movie does a great job of providing examples of symbolic interactionism. My plan is to discuss symbolic interaction and provide examples of the theory.

Anthropologists in order to learn about one culture have to physically enter that society and live for years to learn their culture very well that called fieldwork. During field work there are challenges that are caused by extraordinary experiences that researchers do not expect and that would be culture shock. Napolean Chagnon was one the anthropologists that went to Yanomamo villages in order to learn their culture. He reported challenges that he has faced to at the beginning of his arrival that he never expect. When Chagnon first met the Yanomamo became shocked that dozen Yanomamo looking at them, fully naked, sweaty, and with mouth full of tobacco that were place between lower teeth and lips. Also their face was covered by green strands

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 interactionism theory is the view of social behavior of individual that emphasizes linguistic and the gestural communication in a society and its subjective understanding of different matters, but especially the role of language in the formation of the child as a social being and social behavior in the society.

The interactionist perspective is defined as “a sociological approach that generalizes about everyday forms of social interaction in order to explain society as a whole” (Witt:16). Sonia seems to view the world through the interactionist perspective because of the issues she discusses and the possible solutions to fix those issues through socialization. She explains how ways of thinking, mostly through scientific discovery, are able to change the way society functions. Sonia is an example of interactionist perspective in action throughout the film because she is constantly sharing her thoughts with Jack and Thomas, and even questioning herself when they share their thoughts. She mentions how individuals do make an impact on society, such as

Symbolic Interactionism is the first theory I would like to discuss out of the three. The two major psychologists who introduced this theory were George Herbert Mead(1863-1931) and Charles Horton Cooley(1864-1929). Mead was one of the founders of this theory and it was a major theoretical perspective in sociology. This perspective is viewed and composed from symbols that people use to establish meaning, ways of communicating with others, and develops the view of the world. This theory is a way to view life through a lens into our social life. These different symbols define our relationships and tells us who we are related to. I would like to discuss a short film first called China’s Lost Girls, to help further understand this theory.

The world aggregates a lot of small societies, and groups, and each group has its own culture and economic system. Yanomami is located in the Amazon forest, in the south of Venezuela and northern Brazil and is one of the largest tribes in the Amazon. This group has an appealing history, because of the aggressive way they responded to anthropologists who tried to investigate more about them. Due to their reactions against anthropologist, it is a challenge to do a research in their lifestyle. Their method of subsistence is considered old-fashioned. The economic system is based in foraging and trades, and recently they started using the horticulture. “Horticulture can be defined as farming without the use of technologies like the plow, irrigation, fertilizer or draft animals.” (Eller, 134) Talk about their economic system is interesting because, as an indigenous group their resources are limited and they have not good relationship with the western civilization. Historically, they have been facing ecological problems. In 1975, a mineralogical survey revealed the presence of gold in Yanomami’s land, since then they have been fighting against miners, because they brought diseases and killed many Yanomamis.

Likewise, it is possible to determine the merits and demerits of the theory of symbolic interactionism. This theory allows to understand social interaction deeper than other theories (for example, the theory of social exchange). It means that people do not just react, but also interpret each other 's behavior. In addition, this approach focuses on the activities of individuals in their daily lives and views people not as robots that mechanically fulfill the prescriptions of social rules and institutional norms, but view them as entities who lead a social life and are endowed with the ability to think (Blumer, 1986). Nevertheless, this theory is overly focused on subjective aspects of interaction, and it gives too much importance to the role of symbols, and belittles the role of the social structure of society, exaggerates the episodic and transient. Also, society is reduced to a set of executable roles, but there is no analysis regarding the origins of those roles. Moreover, there is no universal system of values for various symbols. It means that for each cultural environment it is necessary to make a separate system, which complicates cross-cultural researchers.

symbolic interactionism. In their analysis of reality of everyday life they refer to the world of

Interactionist claims that people create their own meanings. They react ,reflect on their own behaviour,have awareness and consciousness of their existence. Therefore,to explain social behaviour,interactionist tend to understand individual interpretations,the meanings which individuals themselves giveto that behaviour through rich in ‘quality’ and