Perspective #3: Symbolic Interactionism
Symbolic Interactionism is a theoretical perspective that claims society is composed of ever-presented interactions among individuals who share symbols and their meanings.
Symbolic Interactionism is a very useful theory for understanding other people, improving communications, learning and teaching skills in cross-cultural relations, and generally speaking, understanding the basics of interaction between people.
Many everyday subjects can be better understood by using Symbolic Interactionism, such as:
- Values
- Communication
- Witch Hunting
- Crisis Management
- Fear from Crime
- Fads
- Love
- Who is hot and who is not
- Alien Abduction Beliefs
- Litigation
- Mate Selection
- Arbitration
- Dating Joys and Woes
- National Meanings
Once you realize that individuals are, by their social natures, very symbolic with one another, you begin to understand how to persuade your friends and family, how to understand other points of view, and how to resolve misunderstandings. Symbolic Interactionism magnifies the concepts of meanings.
Think about these three words: LOVE, LUST, and LARD.
Each letter is a symbol. When combined in specific order, each word can be defined. Because we memorize words and their meanings we know that there is a striking difference between LOVE and LUST. We also know that LARD has nothing to do with either of these two terms.
Contrast these word pairs:
- hate vs. hope
- help vs. hurt
- advise vs. abuse
- connect vs. corrupt
These words, like all words, carry immense meaning. Also, each of these words has a corresponding set of sounds that also carry meaning.
Symbolic Interactionism makes it possible for you to be a high school student. It makes it so you understand your teachers' expectations and know how to approach them. Our daily interactions are filled with symbols and an ongoing process of interactions with other people based on the meanings of these symbols.
- How's it going?
Have you ever had anyone you've greeted actually answer that question beyond the programmed response of "pretty good, you?" or "not bad"?
Most of you probably have not. And if you think about it, do you really want to know "how it's going?" Usually, we don't. The phrase is nothing more than a greeting; it is not an actual question. U.S. culture dictates that we’re supposed to be friendly by greeting other people.
Symbolic Interactionism Theory explores the way we communicate and helps us to understand how we grow up with our self-concept. It helps you to know what the expectations of your roles are and if you perceive yourself as doing a good job or a bad job in meeting those expectations.
There are many Symbolic Interactionism concepts. The Thomas Theorem is one of them.
The Thomas Theorem, which is often called the Definition of the Situation, is basically if people perceive or define something as being real, then it is real in its consequences.
Example #1:
A woman is diagnosed as HIV positive. She makes her funeral plans, makes sure her children will be cared for, and then prepares to die. Two years later, she is retested. It turns out her first test results were a false positive, yet she acted as though she had AIDS and was certainly going to die soon from it.
Example #2:
If a student is told that her IQ is lower than it actually is, how might that impact her self-image? She might decide that she is not able to do school work and then her grades would drop, further reinforcing her perceptions. What if that same student is told that her IQ is above average? Would she work harder because she thought that she could?
Our personal definition of the situation has a major impact on our behavior.
When we define our situation as being real, we act as though it is real, regardless of the objective facts in the matter.
The Definition of the Situation is a key theory in the development of several other Symbolic Interactionist theories. It shows us how much of our behavior is constructed upon how we evaluate our surroundings, the events taking place in those surroundings, and the people that are with us in those surroundings.
Symbolic Interactionism is very powerful in helping people to understand each other. Newlyweds, roommates, life-long friends, young children and their parents, and teammates can all utilize the principles of the theory to "walk a mile in someone else's shoes," "see the world through their glasses," and/or simply to "get it."
A major realization that comes with Symbolic Interactionism is that you begin to understand the other people in your life and come to know that they are neither right nor wrong, they just have a different point of view; people define social symbols with varying meanings.
