chapter 5 theories about symbolic activity. symbolic interactionism george herbert mead mind, self,...

Chapter 5

Theories About Symbolic Activity

Symbolic Interactionism

• George Herbert Mead• Mind, Self, and Society (1934)• “Mead thought that symbols were the basis

of individual identity and social life. In his opinion, individuals can acquire identity only by interacting with others. As we do so, we learn the language and the perspectives of our social communities”


• Mind– “Mead described mind as the ability to use

symbols that have common social meanings. As children interact with family, peers, and others, they learn language, and concurrently they learn the social meanings attached to particular words” (p. 90).


• Mind

– “The ability to use symbols that have common meanings allows individuals to share ideas and to communicate about ideas rather than simply behaving toward one another as animals do” (p. 90).


• Self– “Mead regarded self as the ability to reflect on

ourselves from the perspective of others. Before children develop a concept of themselves, they first experience others acting toward them, labeling them, defining them” (p. 91).


• Self– “The concept of the looking glass self calrifies

Mead’s view of the human self. Symbolic interactionists explain that we learn to see ourselves mirrored in others’ eyes. In other words, our perceptions of how others see us are lenses through which we perceive ourselves. We learn to see our selves in terms of the labels others apply to us” (p. 91).


• Self

– Self-fulfilling prophecy


• ‘I’ vs. ‘Me’– “The I is impulsive, creative, spontaneous, and

generally unburdened by social rules and restrictions. Thus, the I is the source both of creative genius and individuality and of criminal and immoral behavior”


• ‘I’ vs. ‘Me’

– “The ME is the socially conscious part of the self, who reflects on the I’s impulses and actions


• ‘I’ vs. ‘Me’– “The ME is analytical, evaluative, and above all

aware of social conventions, rules, and expectations. The I might think it would be great fun to go skinny-dipping on a crowded beach, but the ME would probably remind the I that skinny-dipping is not generally socially approved” (p. 92).


• Particular Others

• Generalized Other

• Role Taking

Dramatism

• “Dramatism begins with the premise that life is a drama and that it can be understood in dramatic terms. Thus, communicators involved in situations are seen as actors performing dramatic scenes on the metaphorical stage of life” (p. 97).

Dramatism

• Kenneth Burke– Substance– Consubstantiality– “Communication is the primary way that we

increase our identification, or consubstantiality, with others and diminish our division, or separateness, from others” (p. 98).

Dramatism

• Guilt as the motive for action.– Hierarchy

– Perfection

– Negative Terminology

Dramatism

• Reducing Guilt

– Mortification

– Victimage/Scapegoating

Dramatism

• The Dramatistic Pentad (Hexad)– The act– The scene– The agent– Agency– The purpose– Attitude

Narrative Paradigm

• Walter Fisher

• “We continually weave discrete events and experiences together into coherent wholes that have all the features of stores: a plot; characters; action; a sequence of beginning, middle, and end; and a climax” (p. 105).

Narrative Paradigm

• Rationalism vs. Narration (see pg. 107).

• Narrative Rationality– Coherence: “Do all parts of the story seem to

fit together believably?”

– Fidelity: “Fidelity concerns whether a story rings true to listeners in terms of their own experiences, values, beliefs, and self-concepts”

chapter 5 theories about symbolic activity. symbolic interactionism george herbert mead mind, self,...

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