Essay on Looking Through Symbolic Interaction Theory
General Instructions: Complete the reading listed on the syllabus under Week 5. Write notes in the margins of the readings or on a separate sheet of paper. Then answer the following questions in full sentences. Your answers should be about a paragraph long. INCLUDE PAGE NUMBERS in your responses so that you can refer back to the reading during the discussion. You can include direct quotes from the readings in your answers, but then also should explain them in your own words. You are encouraged to discuss the readings with other students but the answers on the assignment must be your own. (You are also not allowed to copy answers from outside sources, like Wikipedia).
Save your answers as a .docx or .pdf file. Put your name and the assignment name at the top, then put the answers to each question (numbered). Do not include the instructions or the questions themselves in your submission. Submit your assignment by Monday, January 31 at 12 PM, using the link on the course website.
Questions for Mead, George Herbert. 1934. Mind, Self, and Society, pages 135-142, 144-164, 200-203, 214-217, 222-226:
1. According to Mead (1934), what is the origin of the self?
2. What is the generalized other? How is it involved in the development of the self?
3. According to Mead (1934), how do individual selves affect society?
4. Interpret the following quote from Mead (1934, p. 226): “The social process…does not
depend for its origin or initial existence upon the existence and interactions of selves; though it does depend upon the latter for the higher stages of complexity and organization which it reaches after selves have arisen within it.”
Questions for Blumer ([1962] 1969), “Society as Symbolic Interaction”, in Symbolic Interactionism, pages 78-89:
5. What does Blumer mean by the term “symbolic interaction”? Give a detailed description of what it involves based on what Blumer wrote in the text.
6. What parts of Mead’s (1934) theory does Blumer (1969, 82) draw on (i.e., explicitly refer to in the reading)? What parts of Mead’s theory does he NOT draw on (based on what you read from Mead)?
7. How does Blumer’s theory of symbolic interactionism view social interaction and society?
8. According to Blumer (1969, 84), how does symbolic interactionism differ from “general sociological views”?
a. Note: By “general sociological views”, Blumer (1969 84) was referring to the dominant theories at the time that he wrote this article, particularly functionalist theories.
The symbolic interactionism hypothesis postulates that humans react to environmental factors based on the personal interpretations they ascribe to them, interpretations that are generated and changed via social contact including meaningful engaging in conversations. Simply put, members of society comprehend their social environments though the communication — the exchange of significance via language and symbols.
1. Mead outlines in Mind, Self, and Society (1934) how the human mind and self-emerge from the sociological phenomena. Rather than addressing subjective existence via humanistic psychology, Mead examines it through the lens of “communication as a necessary form of organizational structure.” According to Mead, individual psychology is only understandable in human dynamics. The “formation of the individual’s personal self – knowledge and self within his sphere of awareness” is primarily social. According to Mead, social processes take precedence over the procedures and systems of individual perspectives.
