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Symbolic interactionism theory
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Symbolic interaction differs greatly from the other major theoretical approaches in sociology. Where functionalism and conflict theory examine society as a whole, symbolic interaction focuses its attention on the individual level. Initially created by George Herbert Mead, the basic premise of symbolic interactionism is that reality is socially constructed. Rather than dealing with an objective reality, every individual perceives the world through the filter of their cultural and childhood socialization. Individuals then interact with the world and each other as if these subjective perceptions are real. One example of a socially constructed “reality” is race. Although there is no biological distinction between various human groups, a long history of socialization has created a profound belief that there are distinct races. From infancy, individuals are …show more content…
Goffman claimed that life is comparable to a theatrical performance, with individuals being actors playing different roles based in the situation they find themselves in. Key to the successful performance of a role is impression management – modifying behaviors to match the expectations of one’s audience. The idea of dramaturgy is useful to explain the pressure many of the family members of Roof’s victims felt to publicly forgive Roof for his actions. During the initial bail hearing for Roof, the daughter of one of his victims stated that she was sad that he had ruined his life and that she forgave him (Von Drehle, Newton-Small, & Rhodan, 2015). Although this was a personal statement made to express her individual choice it was broadcast throughout the media and had serious implications for the other victims’ family members. With the eyes of the nation focused on them, many felt pressured to make similar statements of forgiveness because it was expected of
Dramaturgy is a view of social life as a series of dramatic performances akin to those taken place in a theatre (Ritzer, 144). Much of Goffman’s dramaturgy is concerned with the processes by which such disturbances are prevented and dealt with (Ritzer, page 144). In the Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Goffman developed a new approach to the sociological study of human interaction, due to a mental health court scenario, of what he referred to as “dramaturgical” because of the analogy it had of the theatre to describe how an individual engages in social interaction with others in a performance (Staton et al, page 5). This performance was a way for actors to influence their audience in a given situation. In the addition of the mental health scenario, age, gender, and race relevant. The human relationships observed in the mental health court was analyzed was theorized so Goffman could explain characteristics of human interactions.
Symbolic interactionism perspective is defined as “the study of how people negotiate the meanings of social life during their interactions with others” (Rohall, Milkie, and Lucas, 2014, p.27). It asserts that “we construct meaning about things that are important in our own lives and in our society” (Rohall, Milkie, and Lucas, 2014, p.28). These meanings derive from social interactions among individuals which
Sociology is the study of society and the interactions that occur within society itself. There are numerous methods of analyzing societies and the way the function, nonetheless, most methods fall in micro and macro level theories. Micro level theories allow sociologist to study smaller relationships such as individual or compact groups of people. On the other hand, macro level studies permit for larger scale investigations to take place. With both of these theories there are three theoretical perspectives used in sociology. Micro level theories include symbolic interactionism which focuses in interactions done with language and gestures and the means which allow such interactions to take place. Macro level theories include structural functionalism
Berger and Luckmann offer a treatise to the social construction of reality that outlines how we formulate the idea of the “self” in social society and how reality itself is socially constructed. “Knowledge must always be knowledge from a certain position.” It is our social position that guides our perceptions of reality and allows us to embrace our idea of “self” within reality. Everyday life presents itself as a reality that is interpreted by others and is subjectively meaningful because of such interpretations.
In social construction of reality, we shape our beliefs and ideas because our social group beliefs on those ideas. The society creates its own definition of reality, and imposes rules for all individuals of the group. Communication is the essential tools for maintenance of the social structure. Our society for example, has the same jointly build ideas of the world, but other society in china for example has another group of ideas of the world. This is social construction of reality.
Adopted into sociology by Erving Goffman, he developed most terms and the idea behind dramaturgical analysis in his 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. This book lays out the process of human social interaction, sometimes called "impression management". Goffman makes the distinction between "front stage" and "back stage" behavior. “Front stage" actions are visible to the audience and are part of the performance. We change our hair color, eye color, complextion. Wearing make-up, the way our hair is styled, the clothes we wear. The demeanor we present to the world to the. All of these things lead to an outward appearance of what we want others to think we are. People engage in "back stage" behaviors when no audience is present. We whine and moan about the customers we deal with. Hair goes un-styled, make is wiped off. Clothing is comfortable and unrestricting. When a person conducts themselves in certain way not consistent with social expectations, it is often done secretly if this ...
The sociological perspective of dramaturgy is associated with Irving Goffman (1922 – 1982) who developed the concept in his book The Presentation Of The Self In Everyday Life (1959). Using theatre as an extended metaphor, dramaturgy explains how everyday interactions uphold social reality. Life is like a play and like actors in a play, people perform roles. Consequently, the social world is made up of teams working together to create the functional institutions of society. For example employment, school, home and hospitals. Social ‘performances’ are reliant on team-members understanding their role in the group and shared understanding of the scenario. Someone who undermines or disrupts a performance, by revealing hidden details, usually for their own benefit or opposing agenda, is considered a ‘discrepant identity’ (Goffman 1959:145). Two components of dramaturgy which explain the concept in more detail, are ‘impression management’ and ‘front and back’.
For this paper, I will be focusing on Erving Goffman’s concept of dramaturgy. Erving Goffman was a sociologist who studied social interaction, and is well known for his work on ‘the self.’ His book, Presentation of Self, continues to be an important and relevant book in sociology since it explains why social interaction within humans is important. In his theory, Goffman explains that people are like actors performing on a stage because of how they live their lives. Drama is used as a metaphor for how an individual presents themselves to society.
Sociologists view society in different ways. Sociologists use three major theories: symbolic interactionism, functional analysis, and conflict theory. The symbolic interactionist perspective, also known as symbolic interactionism, directs sociologists to consider the symbols and details of everyday life, what these symbols mean, and how people interact with each other (Cliff). Some examples of symbolic interactionism are the meaning of marriage, the meaning of divorce, the meaning of parenthood, and the meaning of love. Symbols may include wedding bands, vows of life‐long commitment, a white bridal dress, a wedding cake, a Church ceremony, and flowers and music. American society attaches general meanings to these symbols, but individuals also maintain their own perceptions of what these and other symbols mean (Cliff). Symbols have a shared social meaning that is understood by all members of society. Symbolical interactionism is analyzed at a micro-sociological level. It examines small-scale patterns of social interaction. It focuses mainly on face-to-face interaction and how people use symbols to create a social life.
the interaction the individual itself and how they interact within their surroundings. Through symbolic interactionalism you look at things and what they mean, and then determine the effects they have. There are many hand signs, both good and bad, that people exchange, as well as facial expressions in reaction to an event or statement that a symbolic interactionalist would look at. My observation period in the library allowed me to glimpse into the life of a sociologist. I realized that you could learn a lot about someone by just watching him or her. Their behavior is highly representative of the person they are; yet one cannot assume what specific reactions imply. Through the use of your sociological imagination you are able to gain a deeper understanding of behavior and how behavior is influenced by society.
Erving Goffman uses a dramaturgical perspective in his discussion of impression management. Goffman’s analysis of the social world primarily centres around studies of the self and relationship to one’s identity created within a society. Through dramaturgy, Goffman uses the metaphor of performance theatre to convey the nature of human social interaction, drawing from the renowned quote “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players” from Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It.’ Much of our exploration of Goffman’s theories lies within the premise that individuals engage in impression management, and achieve a successful or unsuccessful performance. Impression management refers to the ways in which individuals attempt to control the impression that others have of them stemming from a basic human desire to be viewed by others in a favourable light. Goffman argues that our impressions are managed through a dramaturgical process whereby social life is played out like actors performing on a stage and our actions are dictated by the roles that we are playing in particular situations. In a social situation, the stage is where the encounter takes place, the actors are the people involved in the interaction, and the script is the set of social norms in which the actors must abide by. Just as plays have a front stage and back stage, this also applies in day-to-day interactions. Goffman’s theory of the front and back stage builds on Mead’s argument of the phases of the self. The front stage consists of all the public and social encounters with other people. It is similar to the ‘me’ which Mead talks about, as it involves public encounters as well as how others perceive you. Meanwhile the back stage, like the ‘I’, is the time spent with oneself reflecting on the interactions. Therefore, according to Goffman’s dramaturgical
While both structural functionalism and conflict theory are macro-level theories, symbolic interactionism looks at society at the micro level. Symbolic interactionism is the collection of relationships that people have between one another and states that people are thinking beings that use symbols to express what they are saying (Larkin, 2015, para. 25). When people have a conversation, they use symbols in the form of words and each word has a specific meaning; for example, house is not only a place of shelter but it also means family, love or comfort. Symbolic interaction also states that the situation is defined by the people involved, (Larkin, 2015, para. 27), such as roommates who live in a dorm during college. For one roommate, it could mean that they are on their own and independent from their parents; however, for the other it could be a place away from what they know and could make the experience unenjoyable. As a whole, society is formed from the relationships between people and how each individual and the situation form their views on the world; thus, symbolic interactionism is the way society is formed and
The main points of the Symbolic Interactionism perspective is that symbols are what shape how we communicate and how we view the world. Our changing ideas affect how we understand and view different things around us. Without symbols society would be not be very coordinated, people wouldn’t be able to specify a specific time for school or where to meet for lunch. The main points of the Functional Analysis perspective, is that society is made up of several individual parts that work together for society to function properly. Each of these smaller parts has functions that are beneficial consequences of people actions and dysfunctions that are harmful and threaten the equilibrium. In this perspective the smaller parts are look at to see how they
George Herbert Mead begins his discussion of symbolic interactionism (talking with others) by defining three core principles that deal with meaning, language, and thought. The theory states that meaning is the construction of social reality. Humans act toward people or things on the basis of the meanings they assign to those people or things.
Sociologists employ three major theoretical perspectives in sociology today. They are the structural-functionalist perspective, the conflict perspective, and the symbolic interactionism. The structural-functionalist perspective is done at a macro level and its focus is on the relationships between the parts of society. The Conflict perspective is done at a macro level and its main focus is on how the wealthy controls the poor and weak. Symbolic Interactionism is done at a micro and it focuses on the use of symbols and face to face interactions.