Interactionalism

Interactionism, is associated with the theories of Mead, Goffman and Becker, focuses on the small-scale phenomena that constitute everyday interactions in an attempt to understand how individuals experience and understand their social worlds, and how different people come to share a common definition of reality (Berger and Luckmann 1967).The Interactionist approach to the family involves examining how people make sense of and understand their lives within families. 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. interactionists have an approach which involves looking at small-scale relationships between individuals in groups and/or institutions. They start with the view that the 'truth' of a situation is best understood by trying to undestand how the people involved make sense of it (the 'protagonists' evaluation of the situation is key...they are 'social actors' and the meanings they attach to the actions of themselves and others are what interactionists then use to base their conclusions on). Their theories/explanations are generated by the data they collect. For example, irving goffan said people are social actors depending on the situation people act in a certain way. Depending on the context they create, develop, modify and change within the the process of the social theory interaction.
Similarly to suppost Goffan Howard Becker said that deviant identities like drug users are created by the labelling process and the fact that they differ from the ideals of society. He did a study on cannabis smokers in the early 1960s, smoking cannabis was a marginal activity in subcultures rather than a lifestyle choice it is today. Becker found that becoming a cannabis smoker depended on ones acceptance into the subculture, close association with experienced users and one's attitude towards