Symbolic Interactionism: A Sociological Perspective

Out of the three sociological perspectives, the one that seemed most interesting to me is the symbolic interactionism theory. At first glance, this reminded me of Egyptian hieroglyphics, which was the basic form of symbolic communication in ancient Egypt (Hruby, 2003). Henslin describes the symbolic interactionism theory on page 21 as "a theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world, and communicate with one another" (Henslin, 2007). It fascinates me that perhaps our entire way of thinking and living revolves around the interpretation of symbols and the meaning behind those symbols.

George Herbert Mead is often believed to be the founding father of the symbolic interactionism theory, although he never published his theory. In fact, his theory and works were only first published by his student, Herbert Blumer, after Mead's death (Plunkett). Blumer studied with Mead at the University of Chicago and after publishing Mead's ideas and summarizations of the theory, Blumer was given credit for the term "symbolic interactionism" (McClelland, 2000). I find it interesting that even though Mead did a lot of the work and came up with most of the theory himself, it was his student who got the credit in the end. In fact, more than one of his students benefited from Mead's finished and unfinished works and were able to compile his beliefs so that the public was aware of the theory (Cronk, 2005).

Essentially, Herbert Blumer believed that there were three core principles that contributed to symbolic interactionism: meaning, language, and thought (Nelson, 1998). The symbolic theory bases itself on the meaning that humans give to the people and things around us. It is this meaning that establishes the basis for symbolic interpretation. Language is the second principle believed by Blumer to be a core to the theory. Language is how humans give a voice to their interpretations of the symbols (Nelson, 1998). The third principle, thought, is the process in which humans can arrive at a different interpretation for the same symbol (Nelson, 1998). What seem like three simple things, really make up a form of communication when brought together.

We use symbols every day in everything that we do, whether we realize this or not. The use of symbolism dates back to the eighteenth century when Scottish philosophers believed that people compare themselves to others when evaluating their own actions (Henslin, 2007). Henslin describes symbols simply as "the things to which we attach meaning". He goes on to say that without symbols, we would be no better than animals. Symbols are what give us the ability to differentiate between relationships of a family member or of a romantic partner. Without symbols, we would not label one person as our "mother" and another person as our "husband" or "wife". They would all be one and the same to us (Henslin, 2007).

I think we take the basic theory of symbols for granted. Such simple things as time, size, quantity, and goals all revolve around symbols (Henslin, 2007). It still amazes me that pretty much everything we think, do, or plan to do revolve around our personal interpretation of symbols and their meaning to us as individuals. Everything that we communicate to others is based on a purely basic form of symbolism.

References

Cronk, George (2005). George Herbert Mead. Retrieved February 18, 2008, from University of Tennessee Web site:

http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/m/mead.htm

Henslin, James (2007). Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. Boston, Massachusettes: Allyn and Bacon.

Hruby, Jennifer (2003). Hieroglyphics. Retrieved February 18, 2008, from Division of the Humanities: University of

Chicaco Web site: http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mitchell/glossary2004/hieroglyphics.htm

McClelland, Kent (2000, February 21). Symbolic Interactionism. Retrieved February 17, 2008, from Grinnell College

Web site: http://web.grinnell.edu/courses/soc/s00/soc111-01/IntroTheories/Symbolic.html

Nelson, Lindsay (1998). Herbert Blumer's Symbolic Interactionism. Retrieved February 17, 2008, from University of

Colorado Web site: http://www.colorado.edu/communication/meta-discourses/Papers/App_Papers/Nelson.htm

Plunkett, Scott Symbolic Interactionism Theory. Retrieved February 17, 2008, from California State University

Northridge Web site: http://hhd.csun.edu/hillwilliams/Symbolic%20Interactionism%20Lecture.htm