Preview

Sociological Approaches: Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
244 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Sociological Approaches: Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
I chose symbolic interaction also referred to as the interactionist perspective. Symbolic interaction is defined as a sociological approach that generalizes about everyday forms of social interaction to explain society as a whole. George Herbert Mead introduced this perspective in the 1920s. Symbolic interaction has three parts including meaning, language, and symbols. The theory applies to society today because people act based on symbolic meanings they find within a given situation. Communication between people is immensely important for a functioning society. Being informed and having understanding of others could avoid conflicts.
I chose the interactionist perspective because everyone has their own experiences and sees the world through

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Sociological Perspective

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Furthermore, this theory focuses entirely on the way that we act and the choices in which we make which determines our behaviour. These choices are believed to be as a result on how we interpret certain situations and how we examine other behaviour around us (Study.com). In relation to child development, interactionists believe that a child’s language acquisition is a result of its social interactions with both the environment and between other children, as well as the most significant people in their lives, e.g. parents or caregivers (Walrath et al, 2011). In relation to education, studies have been carried out by interactionists to observe the social interaction that occurs between children in the classroom and on the playground. I believe that the interactionist perception helps us to gain a true insight into the explanation of one’s behaviour. For example, some studies have shown how children’s playground activities reinforce specific gender-roles. Results of these studies show that girls are more inclined to play cooperative games, while boys are more inclined to play competitive sports (Thorne,…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sociological perspectives have contributed to the deepening of my understanding through giving me more and different perspectives to view the world, societies, cultures, and individuals. These sociological perspectives have given me more insight into how society functions and is connected, how conflict engineers social change, and how people interact and why they interact in this particular way.…

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Symbolic Interaction theory refers to the ongoing language or gestures that can affect a conversation. Within this conversation it has a symbolic meaning which affects how one reacts to the conversation within a family. Sign Language is a very popular form of the symbolic interaction theory, because when using sign language you are demonstrating different gestures to communicate with another person. Symbolic Interactions theory was a very popular theory seen throughout the movie, as far as the many interactions that are involved in a drug trade and between Lucas and his family. In one of the scenes in “American Gangster” Frank and his cousin get into it at a party because his cousin starts acting up in front of everyone. Frank gets angry and punches him in the face and then slams his head in the piano. This is a part of the symbolic interaction theory because Frank’s cousin basically turns on him because of his addiction to crack and Frank was fed up with it a forced to take some action and in that he beats him up.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Symbolic Interactionism is the analysis of an individual’s interaction while in another person’s presence (face-to-face) and the usage of symbols created in social life. With different groups of people fighting for equality in the most recent years same-sex couples have been fighting for the rights of being legally married to their partners.…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Symbolic interactionalism The micro-sociological perspective that posits that both the individual self and society as a whole are the are products of social interactions based on language and other symbols. (Chambliss, William J.., and Daina S. Eglitis. Discover Sociology.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Social Interactionism is the real trick that individuals use images to shape their own perspectives about the world. Social interactionists concentrate how individuals use images to add to their perspectives of the world and to speak with each other. William Ogburn was a humanist who bolstered typical interactionism. Images individuals inside of society to build up an association with each other and to help us to interface with each different too. "They examine up close and personal interactionists; they take a gander at how individuals work out their connections and how they bode well out of life and their place in it" Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer were both sociologists who bolstered the Functional Analysis hypothesis. This hypothesis…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Symbolic interaction is defined from a sociological and criminology perspective. Symbolic interaction examines how individuals and groups interact, focusing on the creation of personal identity through interaction with others. Symbolic interaction main concern is the relationship between individual action and group pressures. Gangs and symbolic interaction go hand and hand.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Applying sociological academic explanations, and concerns to the above question from those nine individuals provide real evidence. Many shoot form the hip in pawn the problem to black being black. All the perspective has the world in this research. But, Symbolic Interactionist emphasize, minority groups, and social class is a Barrack’s Obama type of symbol that affects people's behavior and how the views things; and those in power like the police have a habit of seeing only what they want to. That is why African-American across the nations are already been views in a damaging way in the eyes of the peers. The one cohesion all perspective has in comments is their focus on the problem at large, which is race, because when conversing about racial…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Chemically Impaired Nurses

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages

    When trying to propose solutions on how to combat this issue, one must use the three main sociological perspectives. First, the symbolic interactionist perspective uses symbols to consider details of everyday life and how people interact with each other. A symbolic interactionist may believe that drug use is a learned experience. Without someone showing you…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Essay On Conflict Theory

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages

    First I would like to touch on Symbolic Interactionism, symbols we attach value or meaning. This is a large portion of this theory that sticks out, the chunk of this theory that I feel applies the utmost to our society. It’s applied to everything around us, from what cars people drive to what kind of earphones or purse they own. These material comforts symbolize…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sexuality and Gender

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The interactionist perspective directs people to consider the symbols and details of everyday life, what these symbols mean, and how people interact with each other.…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sociological Imagination

    • 327 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Symbolic interactionism illustrates that interacting with others and meaning behind words and gestures is what creates society in the first place. From this perspective people act toward things based on the meanings those things have for them. These meanings are derived from social interaction and modified through interpretation. Symbolic interactionism sees face to face interaction as the building blocks of everything else in society. Without interactions we could not construct a meaningful reality within society.…

    • 327 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Introduction to Sociology

    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages

    To begin, symbolic interactionist study how people use symbols to develop their views of the world and to communicate with one another. Symbolic interactionist analyze how our behaviors depend on the ways we define ourselves and others. Everything is a symbol and without symbols humans would be no more advanced than the animals that surround them. The next sociological perspective is functional analysis. The central idea of functional analysis is that society is one “whole” unit made up of interrelated parts that work together in harmony. This perspective means that society is composed of many different parts, in which, each part has a role to fulfill in order for society to function normally. There are three types of functions: manifest, latent, and dysfunctions. The manifest functions are deliberate actions that help the system. Latent functions are unexpected functions that help the system. The last function of functional analysis is dysfunctional function. These functions are damaging but, inevitable to society. The third sociological perspective is conflict theory. This perspective on social life basically means that society is composed of competition. This competition or conflict is not always expressed, but it just lies beneath the surface waiting to sprout at a moments notice. When I think about conflict theory I tend to think of the old cliché, “Survival of the fittest.”…

    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Symbolic Interactionism suggests that in this society, the individuals are expected to behave and perform strictly accordingly to their label, which also grants them and denies them certain things. Without these labels, this society would not be able to…

    • 1645 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Essay Sociology

    • 686 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “Symbolic-Interaction Perspectives"—“Perspective based on the sociological approach that views society as the sum of the interactions of individuals and groups (Kendall,…

    • 686 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays