College essay: Symbolic Interactionism Theory

Symbolic Interactionism

Of George Herbert Mead

Review

Em starts in the beginning of this chapter by introducing to us the pioneer of Symbolic Interactionism George Herbert Mead, he defines him as a philosophy professor rat the university of Chicago for three decades of the twentieth century who is well known by sociologists as the professor who taught a generation of the best minds in their fields. George was an activist defending women’s right, labor union in an era of robberbron capitalism. The concept of Symbolic Interactionism is the ongoing use of language and gestures in anticipation of how the other will react in a conversation.

Mead’s book that was conducted by his students after his death especially his former student Blumer, describes how language is essential for these three critical human characteristics mind, self and society to develop. Em points out that Mead believes that a theory is useful only if it can help in solving a complex social issue. Moreover, Em observes that the film which represents the theory of symbolic interactionism on the ground, which is around a girl called Nell speaks a language no one else can understand except her mother who raised her in a total isolation, is the best example that Mead uses to defend his theory.

Along with the above, Em explains that Blumer stated three principles of Symbolic Interactionism that are: Meaning, Language and Society. The first principle is exampled by the little girl Nell and how the people she meets are describing her and each one interprets in a certain way about her, also their treating to her is based on what meaning they give her, such as, the sheriff sees her as a crazy girl, his wife sees her as a free spirit and the doctor sees her as his friend and she in return consider him her guardian angel. So we understand that the social interactions between people are basically related to their interpretation of each other. Moreover, interactionists believe that it is the meaning we give to other people or things which shape our response to them. The second principle Blumer stated was language as the source of meaning. Through this principle Blumer tried hard to get us fully understanding that by language we can create meaning, and this interpretation comes from the social interaction of the members of a certain society. He also states that, the meaning of things doesn’t pre-exist but created through the use of language. More than that, the names or meanings we use to describe things or an abstract ideas have no interrelation with the existing things or ideas, and when those names are disseminated all over in a society, they become irresistible representing the common belief of the meaning of a particular thing or abstract idea. Em comes to the idea that Symbolic Interactionism is not just a means for intelligent expression; it’s also the way in which we learn to interpret the world.

The author also illustrates to us through the story of the son and his father, who were riding to the ball game, that the names we utilize to give meaning to people as Doctor, Surgeon… are totally correlated to the cultural context and social one. The third and the last principle which Blumer claimed is Thinking, which is defined as the human process to give meaning to or interprets of symbols. Mead renames the process of thinking as Minding which is the pause that’s reflective; it is the two seconds delay while we mentally rehearse our next move.

Em considers the process of thinking as a self speech and it is a human characteristic only, because human are the only creatures who are endowed with a mind to think with. However, we need language to think, so it is a sine qua none for naming things and interacting with the others.

Mead believe that the self can be existed only through language, in other words we can give meaning of the existing self only through the interactions with others, because we are not born with the senses of self, so without language there will be no self concept. Mead refers to the “I” as the spontaneous driving force that fosters all that is novel, unpredictable and unorganized in the self, while the “me” is viewed as an object or what Mead calls the looking glass image of other people’s reactions. Moreover, this is applied on the living experience of Nell, when she runs toward a mirror and sees her reflection and says “May” which means “me”, and then she hugs herself and say “Tay” which means “I”.

Em points out through Mead’s ideas of the self, that the “me” is formed by the reflection views of significant others. The ideas, expectations and attitudes of a social group is what Mead and Other symbolic interactionists call the “generalized other”, in other words we shape the “other” with what we have in mind about him or her. So we refer to ourselves as a generalized others whenever we try to evaluate our behavior in a social group. Mead sees society as a society-in-the making rather than society by previous design. To sum up Mead idea about the self, Em explain that there is no “me” at birth, the “me” is formed only through symbolic interaction, first with family, next with playmates and then in institutions such as school. However to confront Mead’s claim, Levinas considers the development of the “I” is through how we respond to the other which is the opposite that Mead believes. Levinas believes that we are born with a responsibility to take care of each other and through this responsibility that we are endowed with the “self” or the “I” and he gives the example of ‘I am my brother’s keeper’.

 As a result Symbolic Interactionism has six separate applications: creating reality, meaningful research, generalized other, naming, self-fulfilling and symbolic manipulation.

In the end the author started evaluating and criticizing Mead’s use of the theories and resources as a symbolic interactionist, and he valued this philosophical work in which Mead theorized on the “self”, the “I” and the “me”. The author also pointed out that Mead has provided a new understanding to the self through showing how humans socially construct their self-concept as well as the influence of society.