Running Head: What Does Celebrating July 4th Say About Americans? 1
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What Does Celebrating July 4th Say About Americans?
What Does Celebrating July 4th Say About Americans?
Baylee Vaughn
Butler Community College
Abstract
If the accepted definition of Symbolic interactionism is ?a school of thought in sociology that explains social behavior in terms of how people interact with each other via symbols? (Chegg.com) then celebrating the 4th of July Holiday can be rightfully described as the quintessential example of symbolic interaction. On that day, 160 million will enjoy a cookout and 115 million will attend an organized fireworks display and $649 million will be spent by
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One remembers the incident because it was symbolic to them. Celebrating the 4th of July Holiday can be rightfully described as the quintessential example of symbolic interaction as a day that represents the?Declaration of Independence?and the birth of the United States of America as an independent nation even though the declaration was actually made on July 2, 1776 and the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was started in June 1776; however America remembers July 4 because that was the date that found its way on the Declaration of Independence and the date we remember. Pragmatists, George H. Mead, Charles H. Cooley, and W. I. Thomas believe ?The central theme of symbolic interactionism is that human life is lived in the symbolic domain. Symbols are culturally derived social objects having shared meanings that are created and maintained in social interaction. Through language and communication, symbols provide the means by which reality is constructed. Reality is primarily a social product, and all that is humanly consequential?self, mind, society, culture?emerges from and is dependent on symbolic interactions for its existence.?? (encyclopedia.com) Since in layman?s terms, Symbolic interactionism is a downtoearth approach to the scientific study of human group life and human conduct, the July 4th Celebration is an excellent example of symbolic interactionism. There probably is no
Lastly I will discuss the elements of Symbolic Interaction. This theory was brought to sociology by Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929), William I. Thomas (1863-1947) and George Herbert Mead (1863-1931). They believed that symbols, things with meaning and face to face interactions are how society views the world and communicate with each other , without symbols our social life would have no meaning. Symbolic interactionists analyzed how our social life depends on the way we define ourselves and others, for example with out symbols we would have no mom, dad, teachers, brothers and sisters. We would not know who we should respect and whom we are obligated too.
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
Symbolic interactionism is a sociological perspective that focuses on the microscopic level of how society works. This particular perspective, allows sociologist to focus more on how and why people act individually. Throughout the story of The Grinch that Stole Christmas, the main theme is giving people a second chance even if they may not seem like they deserve it. Although there are many characters who
Symbolic interactionism is a micro-level theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people’s actions (Conley). A Symbolic Interactionist would view abortion on a case by case basis. Depending on the situation, they may support abortion or they may be anti-abortion. For instance, a symbolic interactionist may consider abortion acceptable and view it has the moral thing to do if woman becomes pregnant as of the result of being raped, but they may view abortion as unacceptable and wrong, in the case of a women being drunk and having a one night stand that ends with her becoming pregnant because lack of contraception.
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.
Pragmatists, George H. Mead, Charles H. Cooley, and W. I. Thomas believe ?The central theme of symbolic interactionism is that human life is lived in the symbolic domain. Symbols are culturally derived social objects having shared meanings that are created and maintained in social interaction. Through language and communication, symbols provide the means by which reality is constructed. Reality is primarily a social product, and all that is humanly consequential?self, mind, society, culture?emerges from and is dependent on symbolic interactions for its existence.?? (encyclopedia.com)
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).
Symbolic Interactionism Theory “sees interactions and meanings as central to society, and assumes that meanings are not inherent, but are created through interactions” (Chp. 1 Theory). An example of Symbolic Interactionism Theory is smoking (informal). Smoking is harmful to your health. A person may associate a meaning for smoking. They might use smoking for means as a way to meet a new friend. When two smokers meet, and one offers the other a cigarette, that is a way to become acquainted with someone. The gesture here is the offer of a cigarette from one person to another. This gesture is positively sanctioned because the person makes a new friend. The negative sanction is the harmful effects that a cigarette has on a person’s
Symbolic Interactionism – Micro level – This involves using symbols. The symbols generally have the same meaning to society, but may not mean the same thing to an individual. For example, a wedding band is a symbol used to show a person is married and it is generally assumed if a person is not wearing a wedding band they are not married or they are trying to hid the fact that they are.
Symbolic interactionism helps explain both of our individual personalities and the ways the human society is linked together (p.27). It also helps us differentiate social order and change through a process. The teachings of symbolic interactionism comes mostly from George Herbert Mead But,George was not the only one that influenced the thoughts and ideas of symbolic interactionism. Symbolic interaction is theoretical perspective so it is still changing and evolving. It also has four kinds of understandings in the population and environment. One of the understandings is that symbolic interactionism is to understand why people engage or do not engage in social growth of the population . Symbolic Interactionism assumes that people from different social backgrounds, and different cultures may see different social issues within their social community. George Mead,Charles Cooley and Herbert Blumer shaped symbolic interactionism on the predictions of yourself causing you to behave a certain way so it becomes true.
Symbolic interactionist is a micro level of social analysis, it is concerned with individual experiences and the wider society. As well as not focusing on the core structures or support the general theory of society like the functionalist does.
Q7) Answer, symbolic interactionism Pg.119 Def.- Idea that symbols things to which we attach meaning are the key to understanding how we view the world and communicate with one another. A prime example of this is the nazi symbol the it used to be a symbol for power but then crazy people turned it into a symbol for hate. the symbols represent their core values. Those who they stick to their beliefs no matter how bad they are. most symbols are all tied into religion and hope because hope burns brighter than anything we can imagine. Things can become better and will in time we just have to believe but you also have to have the will to make things better because hope on its own is hollow, you need will to make that hope a reality. The core values
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.