Symbolic Interactionism: Summary

George Herbert Meade was the first who proposed the ideas that form up the theory of Symbolic Interationism. However it was a student of his, Herbert Blumer who gathered all his ideas together into a book. It was also Herbert Blumer who coined the term Symbolic Interationism which I will term SI for this blog.

There are three core principles of SI: The construction of Social Reality, The Construction of Meaning, and The Process of taking the role of the Other. These three core principles of SI deal with meaning, language, and thought respectively. Let’s talk about these principles one by one.

The Construction of Social Reality: Meaning

Blumer bases this principle on the premise that humans act toward people or things on the basis of the meanings they assign to those people or things. A person who sees another person in a certain light will act accordingly.
As an example, let me give this quote I received on text messaging; “how do you define a trashcan? To a toddler, it’s just a shelf for his ugly toys; to a pupil, it’s where she keeps her bad test papers; to a teenager; it’s a basketcase for the letters of an ex-lover; but to a street child, it’s the source of food for everyday living.” A trashcan is a single object, yet it can have several definitions according to different people; and to each of these people, their definition of the trashcan is the true definition of the trashcan. Furthermore, a collection of these definitions make up a person’s reality.

The Source of Meaning: Language

This simply suggests that meaning is formed by social interaction of individuals. As I mentioned in the pervious concept, each person has his own perception of certain things, objects etc. By interaction with another person, one can then see how the other person perceives a certain object, thing etc. For example, I define the word chair as a thing to sit on. Then I find out that my family also perceives the word chair in the same way. After that I find out, that the entire population of Davao City perceives the word chair in the same way that I do. Therefore, the word chair will be universally accepted in Davao city as referring to something which we sit on. In connection to this, if a collection of people perceive one object in the same way, then this perception becomes reality to them.
As Blumer stated, Meaning is negotiated through the use of language-hence the term symbolic interactionism.

The Process of Taking the Role of the Other: Thought

Blumer’s third premise is that an individual’s interpretation of symbols is modified by is or her own thought processes. Interactionists claim that thinking is like having an inner conversation otherwise called minding. Humans have the ability to think things through and therefore, they derive meanings from what they think.
However, we must have language before we can think coherently therefore; we must learn to interact symbolically. Furthermore, according to Griffin’s book, we must have social stimulation and exposure so that we can learn to grasp abstract symbols that we use in minding.

Mead also introduced the concept of taking the role of the other. Humans take the viewpoint of another person to better understand things. It is better understood as standing in another person’s shoes.

The Self

The three concepts stated above are all interconnected, and together they form the concept of self. Mead argues that there are two aspects of self. The me and the I. The I is instinctive. It is spontaneous, unrehearsed and impulsive. It is the part of self that causes us to do something even though we can’t provide a good explanation why we did it. In contrast, the me is the image of self seen in the looking-glass-which is a person’s image as seen through other people’s eyes. The me is therefore our image according to how other people sees us. The me conforms to society and its rules. The community forms the me to suit it’s structure.