Symbolic Interactionism: Studies of Social Construction Hundreds of years before written word, theories have been made about words, the symbolism behind them, and root meanings assigned by social construction. William Shakespeare can be shown as example of this with posed questions by characters in his writings. In Romeo and Juliet, the character Juliet poses questions that reflect the symbolism of the name of her and her star-crossed lover Romeo. “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo. Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I 'll no longer be a Capulet… 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;--Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What 's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor …show more content…
“There are two well-known traditional ways of accounting for the origin of meaning. One of them is to regard meaning as being intrinsic to the thing that has it, as being a natural part of the objective makeup of the thing.” (Blumer, 1969) This shows that a chair is a chair, a cow is a cow, a cloud is a cloud, and so forth. The meaning starts from the thing. This shows that because of its social construction the object just is. This position reflects “realism” in philosophy. Blumer’s third premise is based on the fact that “an individual’s interpretation of symbols is modified by his or her own thought processes” (Griffin, 2006). The third premise suggests that meanings described are handled in, and modified through and interpretative process used by the person in dealing with the things they encounter (Blumer, 1969). In simple terms, it’s a thought process that is handled by an individual who go through what Mead describes as minding, or inner conversation. (Griffin, 2006) The concept behind thought is the process of being able to think, reflect, and take the role of the other. This would mean to put yourself into another’s place to think and reflect upon yourself. Once there is an understanding of the three main concepts of meaning, language, and thought, one can understand
In the United States and in several other countries around the world, many people recognize Wal-Mart for being a great place to shop for any and every household item on the market. However, sociologist find Wal-Mart to be a bit more than just a one-stop shop for everyday items. Sociologist use different perspectives to view society and its functions to evaluate the “why’s” and “what’s” within a society. The two main perspectives or theories used by sociologists to analyze society are macrosociology and microsociology, but more specifically: Functionalism, Conflict Theory, and 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.
Montague's son Romeo in the book Romeo and Juliet written by Shakespeare in the 1500’s, supports the audience with many of his strengths and weaknesses. In this story, two well-known families of Verona, the Montagues, and Capulets are in a feud against each other; however, the son of the Montague family, Romeo, and the daughter of the Capulet family, Juliet fall in love at first sight at a Capulet party. Even though Romeo is a Montague, his personality and his calm behavior persuades Capulet to let him stay at the party. After he meets Juliet, Romeo asks the friar to marry them both; even though, the friar was concerned about Romeo because of his instantly changed and unthought decisions he lets them marry each other secretly. Romeo’s commendable behavior proves a strength and his uncontrollable emotions show his weakness.
Romeo was a Montague and that was enough for them to turn away from any possibility of being
Whether if they are evil or good, kind or malicious, it is in no way related to their name. When Juliet calls off her balcony after the party, she states, “Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, thou not a Montague,” realizing that even though she's been told all her life that Montagues are to be loathed, that they are an abomination, that these things are insignificant to one's identity. That Montague “is nor hand, nor foot” (2.2.41-43). Likewise Romeo realizes that a name does not matter when he states that he “henceforth… never will be Romeo”(2.2.55). The two admit to the deception of their family feud, as they see each other separate from their family name. The collision of these two characters made them throw away their biased beliefs of their identity to join together as one in
Symbolic Interaction focuses on a micro view of society. It focuses on a small scale perspective of interaction between individuals. Imagine you`re with a friend instead of looking at large scale structures like education or law, since we are looking at the small scale symbolic interaction explains the individual in a society and their interactions with others and through that it can explain social order and change.
Four principal scholars explored the symbolic interaction theory, George Herbert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley, William Isaac Thomas, and Herbert Blumer (Smith & Hamon, 2012). George Herbert Mead proposed that through interaction with others, we learn about ourselves—this is done through three stages; play stage, game stage, and generalized other (Smith & Hamon, 2012). He identifies the movement between “I” and “me.” “I” being the spontaneous, immediate reactions to a situation, “me” being the roles learned from prior experiences (Smith & Hamon, 2012). Charles Horton Cooley had the idea of the “looking-glass self”—which explains individuals consider how they appear to others in order to create their own concept of themselves (Smith & Hamon, 2012). The third scholar, William Isaac Thomas, was known for the definition of the situation, which led to the idea that understanding perspective of the people involved in the situation was necessary to understand human behavior in general (Smith & Hamon, 2012). The Thomas Theorem stated
" 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy; / Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. / What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, / Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part / Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! / What's in a name? that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet; / So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, / Retain that dear perfection which he owes /
“I tell thee what: get thee to church o’ Thursday, or never look me in the face” depicts how Lord Capulet has a mighty grasp on Juliet's life forcing her to marry who he says to (3.5, 161-162). Sadly, this makes up a large portion of Juliet’s identity. A portion that she will strive to rid of her life. Thus, the main conflict has been aroused as Juliet attempts to forge her own family with Romeo to reject the toxic family identity her father embeds upon her. On a different note, Romeo also experiences family affiliation with Friar Laurence where the Friar says, “Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift. Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift” (2.3, 55-56). Instead of being a toxic relationship, Romeo has a bond with Friar Laurence that is not just friendly but also fatherly. Here, Friar Laurence calls Romeo his son and Romeo has repeatedly called Friar Laurence “Father” mainly due to the Friar’s religious position. However, one can also make the inference that Shakespeare intended the Friar to be called “father” not solely for his religious qualities, but as a surrogate father for Romeo as well. A father Romeo needs, for his relationship with Lord Montague does not seem very strong. Throughout the play, Friar Laurence has always been the figure that Romeo goes to for guidance and thus a positive family affiliation is formed here to make up a good identity. In brief, family affiliated identity for Romeo and Juliet contains both toxic relationships as seen with Juliet's possessive father, and positive warming relationships as seen with Romeo’s connection to Friar
Lord Montague and Lord Capulet, the heads of the two households, could easily want the other’s son/daughter killed. Violence would increase in the streets of Verona, the city where Romeo and Juliet is located. It is the truth, but Romeo still opposes this saying, “Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague?
The two lovers believe that their families will never approve of them together as a couple. Juliet asks Romeo to surrender being a Montague so then the Capulets can hopefully accept him. In the text Juliet tells Romeo, “Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague?
“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet.” (Act 2, Scene 2, Pg 2, Lines 33-36)
Many are disconcerted by the idea that humans and Minds can be described as systems which operate based on interpretations of symbols, much like machines, computers, and robots: things that we have created yet do not think of as being “thinking,” themselves. We, as human beings, are comforted in the notion that we are born into this world with a fully capable Mind, a soul or spirit, and are, thereafter, free to choose our fate as we will. Although it seems plausible that we are born with Mind, I cannot subscribe to such a simplistic version of thinking about our true capacity for affecting outcome.
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.
Every time we see something, we associate it with a meaning and our subjective understanding of it. The way we perceive things, is associated and biased by our personal experiences. It is affected by cultural elements, ideas, and such. When we receive a message, our minds automatically work in order to decode it and absorb the meaning behind it, both the denotation and connotation.