Symbolic Interactionism

This response addresses question four and define the provided theories, which include structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. In doing so, various components of the theories are identified in relation to the topic of social change. In doing so, it is important to point out that in sociology, theories are used to explain the patterns, the way groups of people decide to perform specific actions, and the way societies do certain things or rather experience a change in a different manner. On the other hand, social change implies the growth and development of a social order, which bears some significant consequences.

In The Blind Side, Michael was raised in the projects of Memphis, Tennessee. One evening after a basketball game Leigh Anne Touhy notices Michael walking down the road, shivering in the cold. After having her husband stop the car to speak to him, she had learned Michael had planned to sleep at the school gym after everyone else had left. Leigh Anne offered Michael a warm place to sleep at her and her family’s home. This moment between these two was Michael’s first real feeling of family. This sparked the relationship that would give him a reason to keep living and gave him something to live for. Leigh Anne continued to include Michael in family gatherings which only enhanced the motherly feeling Michael got from her.

Standardized tests can also be biased or unfair because questions on these tests necessitate understanding and abilities that typically children from advantaged families have (Kohn, A, 2000). Children who live in poorer communities have a

Symbolic interactionism has affected me through my gender. Gender refers to the physical, behavioral, and personality traits that a group considers to be normal, right, and good for its male and female members. (Ferris and Stein, 2016) Gender roles can be carried traditionally and personally. Women in my family are traditionally socialized. Gender roles are taught from at a young age and continue into adulthood. For example, my paternal grandmother would always expect me to have a role to doing chores, since I was a girl growing up. I would be expected to take over to clean the dishes if she seen one of my brothers or dad doing it.

Symbolic Interactionism suggest that humans define situations upon past experiences, and then act on those definitions. The legitimacy of the stratification structure is established and perpetuated through teaching beliefs to the young and enforcing those beliefs. Children are taught that ones place in the stratification

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).

The relationship of Morrie Schwartz and Mitch Albom demonstrates the Symbolic Interactionism perspective in many ways. The SI perspective points out that when people enter a situation, they already have a preconceived idea of what it will be like. The SI perspective also explains how our definitions can change after we enter a situation. This idea is evident with Mitch’s situation at Brandeis University. When Mitch entered college, he expected not much more than a typical student-teacher relationship with his sociology professor. However, his idea of the situation changed after their first class together, when Mitch told Morrie that he could call him by his name Mitch, because that’s what his friends called him. Morrie replied with, “I hope that one day you will think of me as your friend.” From then on, Morrie and Mitch had a very special relationship, one that Mitch would have never expected.

Sociological perspectives provide sociologists with a means to study different aspects of society, individuals, and groups upon different bases. Three major perspectives these sociologists turn to are Symbolic Interactionism, Functionalism, and Marxism. Symbolic Interactionism studies aspects of society through symbols and language included in each aspect. Each of these perspectives can be related to a workplace, religion, and a federal government agency or organization.

Symbolic Interactionism was formulated by Herbert Blumer. This perspective relies on the symbolic meaning that people develop and subconsciously rely upon in the process of social interaction. The youtube video presented illustrates the premises of symbolic interactionism in Chicago. It showed chicagoans replacing their car spaces with a lawn chair. These chairs were being put out in the snow to reserve a parking space. The importance of symbolic interactionism is shown through their views on objects. In this case, the chair is the object of choice. Assuming one person decided to claim their parking spot by leaving a chair in place of their vehicle, it gave the chair a different meaning. Instead of the chair being the object to use for sitting,

A student of social science is required to scrutinize the theories of many social scientists. This task can be abstruse without a framework with which to analyze those theories. Tom Campbell describes five parameters that can be useful when studying or comparing social theories. These parameters aren’t clear-cut categories, but ranges or areas within which an idea or theory can fall. Despite these ranges, Hubert Blumer’s theory of symbolic interaction can be said to fall somewhat more to one part of these parameters than the other. Symbolic interaction, as described by Blumer, is more of an idealist than a materialist, more descriptive than normative, more individualistic than holistic, more related to conflict than to consensus, and more accurately understood through an interpretive model than through a positivist one. This paper will endeavor to demonstrate that his views primarily fall in line with these parameters, even though there are aspects of each contained within his theory.

The premise of the video is that the "N" Word was originally started as a malicious word along with a disparaging meaning. And after hundreds of years, time made it change and evolve, it gradually developed into entirely different meanings.

The symbolic interactionist perspective would focus more on the meanings and symbols of mutilation. Women and adolescents would associate the meaning of mutilation by comparing themselves as pure and attractive. As they interact with others, they will conclude that it is a positive outcome of the procedure. The symbols and meaning associated with the mutilation could signify womanhood, pureness, virility, and allurement. Women and girls would symbolize themselves as these symbols when the procedure is carried out. The conflict theorist perspective would dispute on the socioeconomic reliance of women on men as it influences their character toward the mutilation. If the woman is mutilated, they have a higher possibility to marry a wealthy man.

Symbolic interactionalism is based on the idea that our self-concept and identity is defined by how we interact with other members of society. Two aspects of this perspective are the labeling theory and the looking-glass self-theory. Both concepts play huge roles today in the reintegration of ex-convicts into society. According to the Bureau of Justice, three out of four ex-convicts are rearrested within five years of their release from prison. 89% of the three re-arrested were not employed. Ex-convicts find themselves unemployed and often resort to unlawful means to survive in great part because of the label they have been given of “criminals”.

George Herbert Mead studied and used an interactionist approach for many years. He was a philosophy professor at the university of Chicago. Mead thought that the true test to any theory is whether or not it is useful in solving complex social problems (EM Griffin, p.83). So Mead decided to study the procedures of communicating, specifically with symbols, the theory was titled Symbolic Interactionism.

A community’s social norms and principles are generally volatile (Hedstrom & Swedberg, 1998). For instance, the cultural values relating to sex and gender have unremittingly changed over the years. While attempting to explain social phenomenon, sociologists will often use three theories. These include structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. The social conflict theory is, however, best placed to explain this changing trend.