SYBOLIC INTERACTION THEORY/ SYMBOLIC o Self- refers to an individual’s

INTERCTIONISM ability to reflect on the way

that the individual is perceive
 It is a frame of reference to better
by others.
understand how individuals interact to
o Society- where all interactions
one another to create symbolic
are taking place.
worlds, and in return, how these
worlds shape individual behaviors.
 A framework that helps understand
 HERBERT BLUMMER
how society is preserved and created
o is a student of Mead coined
through repeated interactions
the term and put forward an
between individuals.
influential summary
 Individuals act on the premise of a
 “People act a certain
shared understanding and meaning
way towards things
within their social context.
based on the meaning
 The interpretation process that occurs
those things already
between interactions help create and
have, and these
recreate meaning.
meanings are derived
from social interaction
and modified through
 Derive form the American philosophy interpretation.”
of pragmatism
 “Most human and
 GEORGE HERBERT MEAD and humanizing activity
CHARLES HORTON COOLEY that people engage in
is talking to each
 Mead argued that people’s selves are other.”
social products, but that these selves
are also purposive and creative, and  Human groups are
believed that the true test of any created by people and
theory was that it was useful in solving it is only actions
complex social influence. between them that
define a society.
 Mind, Self and Society- book published
by the students of Mead  Through interaction,
individuals are able to
 The handbook of symbolic “produce common
interactionism. symbols by approving,
arranging, and
 Concepts of Social interactionism redefining them.

o Mind- an individual’s ability to  ASSUMPTIONS

use symbols to create o Physical reality does indeed
meanings for the world exist by an individual’s social
around the individuals- definitions.
individuals use language and o social understanding of
thought to accomplish this reality. (they respond to this
goal. reality indirectly through a
 kind of filter which consist of
individual’s perspectives.)
o human exist not in the
physical space composed of
realities, but in the “world”
composed only of “objects”
 THREE ASSUMPTIONS FRAME OF
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM.
o Individuals construct meaning
via the communication
process.
o Self-concept is a motivation of
behavior
o A unique relationship exists
between the individual and
society.
 THREE PREMISES THAT ARE DERIVED
FROM THE ASSUMPTIONS
o PREMISE 1: Humans act
toward things on the basis of
the meanings they ascribe to
those things.
o PREMISE 2: The meaning
of such things is derived from,
or arises out of, the social
interaction that one has with
the others and the society.
o PREMISE 3: The meanings are
handled in, and modified
through, an interpretative
process used by the person in
dealing with the things he/she
encounters.
 FIVE CENTRAL IDEAS by Joel M.
Charon “Symbolic Interactionism an
Interpretation, An Integration”
o Human being must be
understood as a social person.
It is the constant search for
social interaction that lead us
to do what we do.
o That human being must be
understood as thinking being.
Human action is not only
interaction among individuals
but also interaction within the
individual.
o Humans do not sense their
environment directly, instead
humans define the situation
they are in. An environment
may actually exist, but it is our
definition of it that is
important.
o The cause of human action is
the result of what is occurring
in our present situation. Cause
unfolds in the present social
interaction, present thinking
and present definition.
o Human beings are described
as active beings in relation to
their environment.
 CRITICISMS
o For being overly impressionistic
in their research methods and
unsystematic in their theories.
o Lack of testability
o To broad and general when
they are seeking specific
theories.
o Theoretical framework rather
than a theory.