Why use symbolic interactionism

This can extend to both the relationships between people and those between people and non-human entities, such as nature, maps, and buildings. Early geographers suggested that how people imagined the world was important to their understanding of social and cultural worlds Casino and Thien, In the s, geography shifted to the micro-level, focusing — in a similar vein to Symbolic Interactionism — on interviews and observation.

These relationships, Casino and Thien argue, can happen both between people and other people in a place and between people and objects in their environment. A large number of social psychologists have applied the symbolic interactionist framework to study the formation of self and identity. Three largest theories to come out of these applications of Symbolic Interactionism are role theory, Affect Control Theory, and identity theory. Meanwhile, Affect Control Theory attempts to predict what individuals do when others violate social expectations.

According to Affect Control Theory, individuals construct events to confirm the meanings they have created for themselves and others. For example, Stryker et. For example, someone who identifies heavily with a religious identity is more likely to, for example, go to religious services than someone who is not Stryker and Serpe, Mead has long posited that people can form identities from the interactions between non-human objects and themselves as much as from their interactions with other humans.

One such example of sociologists studying how the interactions between non-humans and humans forms identity apply to architecture. Smith and Bugni examined architectural sociology, which is the study of how socio-cultural phenomena influence and are influenced by the designed physical environment. This designed physical environment can be as far ranging as buildings, such as houses, churches and prisons; bounded spaces such as streets, plazas, and offices; objects such as monuments, shrines, and furniture; and many elements of architecture design such as shapes, size, location, lighting, color, texture, and materials.

Smith and Bugni proposed that symbolic interaction theory is a useful lens to understand architecture for three reasons. And thirdly, the designed physical environment is not merely a backdrop for human behavior, but an agent to shape thoughts and actions through self-reflection Smith and Bugni, Rather than forcing behavior, architecture suggests possibilities, channels communication, and provides impressions of acceptable activities, networks, norms, and values to individuals Ankerl, The definition of deviance is relative and depends on the culture, time period, and situation.

Charlotte Nickerson is a student at Harvard University. Coming from a research background in biology and archeology, Charlotte currently studies how digital and physical space shapes human beliefs, norms, and behaviors and how this can be used to create businesses with greater social impact. Nickerson, C. Simply Psychology. Ankerl, G. Brooks, R. The self and political role: A symbolic interactionist approach to political ideology. The Sociological Quarterly, 10 1 , Carter, M. Symbolic interactionism.

Cooley, C. Looking-glass self. The production of reality: Essays and readings on social interaction, 6, Del Casino, V. In International encyclopedia of human geography pp. Denzin, N. Kuhn, M. Major trends in symbolic interaction theory in the past twenty-five years.

The Sociological Quarterly, 5 1 , Lawrence, D. The built environment and spatial form. Annual review of anthropology, 19 1 , According to symbolic interactionism, the objective world has no reality for humans; only subjectively defined objects have meaning. Meanings are not entities that are bestowed on humans and learned by habituation; instead, meanings can be altered through the creative capabilities of humans, and individuals may influence the many meanings that form their society.

Human society, therefore, is a social product. These parts of the brain begin developing in early childhood the preschool years and aid humans in understanding how other people think.

In , Charles Horton Cooley developed the social psychological concept of the looking glass self. The term was first used in his work, Human Nature and the Social Order. There are three main components of the looking glass self:.

Cooley clarified this concept in his writings, stating that society is an interweaving and interworking of mental selves. Through interaction with others, we begin to develop an identity about who we are, as well as empathy for others.

It should be noted that symbolic interactionists advocate a particular methodology. Because they see meaning as the fundamental component of the interaction of human and society, studying human and social interaction requires an understanding of that meaning. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors.

Share Flipboard Email. By Ashley Crossman. Updated January 30, Featured Video. View Article Sources. Cite this Article Format. Crossman, Ashley. What Is Symbolic Interactionism? What Is Originalism? Definition and Examples.