Search

Transdisciplinary dialogue between feminist theories and other approaches is fundamental. The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical reflection on the pertinence of incorporating the Feminist Standpoint Theory within the psychosocial perspective of Symbolic Interactionism developed from the Chicago School. We find this possibility at various convergence points between both stances: the opposition to positivism and scientificism; the interest in disarticulating essentialist conceptions; a situated, partial and processual vision of the construction of knowledge; the openness to implement various methods; and an investigative orientation based on intersubjectivity and experience. In this way, the possibilities of analysis and interpretation of one frame are neither accessory nor complementary to the other. Instead, we suggest thinking of a Feminist Symbolic Interactionism through the discussion of its epistemological, conceptual and methodological implications. What underlays in this theoretical positioning is an analytical and political enunciation platform that allows a critical psychosocial approach to inequality and other phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pragmatism has recently gained ground as a theoretical perspective in sociology. The approach is not without its critics, however. One common charge is that pragmatism is oriented toward the micro and not well suited for the explanation of meso- or macro-level events, processes, or outcomes. In this paper—a review essay—I consider whether the charge has merit. I examine four studies that draw heavily on pragmatism and give some indication of its explanatory potential. Taken together, these studies suggest that pragmatism has much to offer analysts of large-scale social phenomena. At the same time, key issues remain to be worked out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the evolution of computer-mediated communication and the arrival of new virtual environments, there are potential implications for how the Self may be conceptualised. This paper considers these implications by examining the continuities and discontinuities between the Self in virtual and non-virtual environments, and contemporary and historical settings. Symbolic Interaction and Activity Theory approaches emphasise the Self as emerging in context, through Self-Other and Self-environment interactions in the minutiae of everyday life, but to some extent foreground physical rather than virtual interactions. Interactions in virtual environments are characterised by specific forms of embodiment and the experience of 'presence', with avatars providing embodiment for interaction separate from the physical world and interaction with others being one of the determinants of presence. The complexion of Self-Other interactions in virtual environments is circumscribed by the characteristics of communications and relationships that occur in them, which are constrained by reduced social cues but overcome through the invention of techniques driven by the desire to socially interact. This paper highlights the role of symbolic mediation in the emergence of Self in virtual environments and posits that, while emergence of Self is interactive in nature, virtual environments are particular sites for a Self where the specific role of social interaction must be foregrounded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many researchers have discussed the historical relationship between the Grounded Theory methodology and Symbolic Interactionism, they have not clearly articulated the congruency of their salient concepts and assumptions. The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough discussion of this congruency. A hypothetical example about smoking among college students is included in this paper to illustrate this relationship. This paper will be useful for qualitative researchers who seek a fuller understanding of how the assumptions and concepts provided by Symbolic Interactionism can inform the researcher who adopts a Grounded Theory methodology to investigate human behaviour. The relevance of this congruency for nursing researchers is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how the conversational aspects of design may be examined from perspectives associated with micro-sociology/social psychology: Symbolic Interactionism (SI) and Conversation Analysis (CA). Since many aspects of design involve face-to-face talk, this paper argues that an SI-informed CA offers an effective approach to understanding how communication and negotiation are central to design. Through analyzing excerpts of talk (an architect’s meeting with a client, and a design education critique) we can see how the collaborative nature of conversation contributes to understandings and assessments of objects. This discussion outlines how SI and CA can help delineate the processes that link the details of interaction to the wider social conditions and constraints that impact upon the practices and objects of design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper is about the experiences of beginning teachers in turning theory learned in universities into practice in the workplace. The research is situated in the context of a pre-service teacher education programme that explicitly and deliberately seeks to bridge the theory-practice gap in teacher education. The paper argues that, despite long-standing awareness of the theory-practice gap as a central issue faced by beginning teachers, attempts by teacher educators to address this issue remain thwarted. The argument draws on interview and focus group data collected via a study of 1st year graduate teachers of an Australian pre-service teacher education programme. The theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism is used to focus on the meanings that graduates have of their experiences of turning theory into practice. The data suggest that prospective teachers during pre-service training value both the theory that they learn on campus and the practice that they observe in schools. However, once they become practitioners, they privilege the latter. Upon entry to the workplace, graduates come to associate good practice with that of the veteran teacher, whose practice and cache of resources they seek to emulate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents the authors' comments on a paper by Housley and Fitzgerald about discursive psychology (DP). In order to understand the intellectual place of DP, the authors suggest taking the kinds of fragmentary focus on psychological matters found in the work of Harvey Sacks. The authors present their response to the paper's claim that DP suffers from theoretical amnesia with respect to the analysis of accounts and motives and that that amnesia is confronted by re-emphasizing the sociological canon of interactionism, phenomenology and ethnomethodology. They say that the problem with the paper is that it is organized around disciplinary allegiance and sacred texts rather than around the specific arguments and analytic developments.

This special issue of the journal "Symbolic Interaction" focuses on theory and method in symbolic interactionism. Quality papers were received from several countries and they have provided theoretical commentary and technical information with which to solve methodological problems. In some cases, the authors of the papers were asked to reduce the length of their articles significantly so that eleven articles were included. These articles have been organized under various issues that are common to all social research but are of special interest to interactionists.

This paper conceptualizes eroticism as emotional experience. I use the Renaissance Faire to illustrate the construction of asexual eroticism along three dimensions: the carnal experience of Faire, its focus on physicality, and intimations of increased interpersonal access. This approach forefronts the complexity of eroticism and situates the erotic squarely in the sociology of emotion, providing a model for understanding a range of emotional, embodied, and nonsexual charges as erotic. More broadly, the analysis seeks to contribute to the study of all emotion as embodied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers explanations of the meanings that push children to illegally armed groups in Colombia from the testimony of 21 demobilized young girls from the region of Antioquia (Colombia). The girls' answers are placed on a typology of explanations drawn from academic reports, and compared to three samples of attributions of students, teachers and policemen of their same region. The visions "idealizing" and "criminalizing" mobilization are practically marginal in all samples. The dominant vision among the girls is called "self-assertive". From the rest of the samples, as well as for the experts, the majority of the views are "victimizing". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symbolic interactionism is often represented as a perspective which is limited by its restriction to‘micro’ aspects of social organization. As such, it is allegedly unable to adequately conceptualize‘macro’ phenomena such as social structure, patterns of inequality, and power. Such a view is routinely presented in undergraduate textbooks. This paper contests such a view through a consideration of the concept of power. We argue that the interactionist research traditiondoesshow a fundamental concern with power phenomena, and that a reconsideration of the concept is timely in light of theoretical developments in sociology more generally. An increasing concern with the analysis of culture, the continuing influence of Foucault, the development of feminist perspectives, and the emerging consensus around neo-Weberian thought have all contributed to a renewal of interest in themes long ago explored by interactionists. As examples we suggest that interactionist studies in the fields of deviance and education have been concerned above all with the authoritative imposition of consequential identities, i.e., with the social processes through which power is enacted and institutionalized in real situations. Such developments have led some to argue that interactionism has now been incorporated into the mainstream of sociology. We conclude, however, by arguing that such a view runs the risk of granting to orthodox sociological thought a legitimacy which is analytically unwarranted, and which fails to recognize the alternative theoretical and philosophical foundations of symbolic interactionist thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the concepts of sexual addiction and mental illness from the sociological perspectives of symbolic interactionism. Symbolic interactionism views diagnostic labels that influence behavior from an interrelational process. A sociocultural context suggests that concepts of sexuality, addiction, and mental illness take on different meanings throughout history, and all these categories are subjective and value laden. Clinicians are an intricate part of the social interactionist interplay. Symbolic interactionists suggest that socially acquired definitions such as diagnostic categories serve to give meaning to a person's experience of self and the world. Clinicians participate in naming and defining a client's problem. Thus, diagnosticians and clinicians bear great responsibility in the socialization process of sexual health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the tasks for a critical social psychology is to describe the contradictory social matrix of intimacy in capitalist societies. That is particularly necessary in order to understand the social experiences of women, since they continue to have the principal responsibility for expressive functions. The present paper is concerned with the structuration of intimacy through the giving of gifts. It is suggested that this is a useful vantage point from which to explore thc extent of the autonomy of the private family. Gift giving is described as a means through which individuals communicate the values which they assign to their significant others. It is suggested that the intersubjective signs of value employed in gift transactions are affected by the characteristics of an industrial capitalist society. The symbolic process therefore demonstrates the limits to the autonomy of familial culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a paper which examines Erving Goffman's contributions to the field of sociology, and his work on etiquette and front, and his theory of ceremony. Goffman's disinclination to situate himself within a theoretical heritage or tradition frustrates current efforts to establish his intellectual genealogy. He rebuked those who would attempt to lie him down to one tradition or approach, and he rejected the term symbolic interactionism, the intellectual movement with which he is often associated. Some researchers have sought to compensate for these difficulties by examining Goffman's citations, believing that this practice would yield answers to questions of influential figures. Others who were able to ask Goffman himself, have published their revealing interviews. Still others have offered creative reconstructions of the stages of Goffman's intellectual development. Yet, however rich and varied the influences on Goffman may have been, the literature continues to point to the intellectual centrality of Goffman's Chicago years. Etiquette provides one clue to understanding the social adjustments in personal relations reached in any one historical era. In a world of social and personal differences, of mutual and antipathies, etiquette operates as both a principle of social order and an index of the stability of the society in which it exists.

This paper proposes two analytical concepts that can be derived from and added to the theory of action. Using these concepts, a systematic exploration of the relationship between the pattern variables and the generalised media is given. A matrix of sanction situations generates four ideal-types of sanction interaction in which actors' orientations are aligned and twelve with misaligned orientations. A link with the joint action of symbolic interactionism is suggested and the use of a more developed concept of interaction recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the process-social structure controversy, concerning the relations of self to symbolic interactionism. Increasingly, knowledgeable scholars of self theory are gaining methodological insights, which support the fact that our conceptions of process and social structure are each incomplete, supplementary dimensions articulating the same phenomenal states of being and development. Just as self and society are "twin born", structure and process are analytically separable dimensions of self that, however, are not mutually reducible. Hence, the basis problem, attempted herein, is to expound dimensions of the symbolic interactionist perspective required for logically specifying and analyzing those psychological, social and situational conditions under which social structure and social process each exert their differential-- as well as their combined, simultaneous influences in determining consequences that self has for soical behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a microsociological study of a group of people who have undergone a threat experience. Within the combined theoretical frameworks of symbolic interactionism and phenomenology, the event is seen as a "reality shock" for its participants, involving cognitive crises in group and individual definitions of the situation. The after period is one in which procedures toward making the threat experience meaningful on both group and individual levels are instituted within group networks. These procedures on a group level involve the construction of a "real" event by the objectification of time and experience and through the emergence and attribution of post-hoc norms. Strategies toward the maintenance and continuity of identity include reconstruction of the threat situation, of other participants' behavior, of post-hoc norms, or of individual behavior, and the negotiation of identity on these various bases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between gender identity and verbal behavior in same-sex interactions. Using structural symbolic interactionism (Stryker, 1980), it is argued that gender identity, as the set of meanings individuals attribute to themselves as modes or females, is more important for shaping role performance than gender per se. Using a technique developed by Burke and Tully (1977), the gender identities of 91 college undergraduates were measured. A sample of these students (30 females, 26 males) participated in dyadic role-playing exercises, and their conversations were recorded and coded for the use of overlaps and interruptions by the speakers. An event history model was estimated in order to assess the impact of the gender identity scores on the rate of overlaps and interruptions produced. Findings indicate that the more "male like" a person's gender definition, regardless of the person's sex, the greater the risk that the person will overlap or interrupt the speech of another. The findings of this study have implications for the analysis of structure and process in day-to-day interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops the concept of radical conversion of sell-identity as a moral career. Following the theoretical orientation of symbolic interactionism, the concept is explicated and differentiated from other forms of sell-change. A critical review of the model developed by Lofland in Doomsday Cult is offered, through which a revised statement of the sequences of radical conversion that is conceptually applicable to cases of diverse content is constructed. Lastly, the revised model is tested using secondary case material and the logic of analytic induction. The findings indicate the model is consistent with the empirical descriptions contained in each case. Suggestions for further analysis are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Joining ideas from structural exchange theory and symbolic interaction theory, this paper addresses two questions: (a) How does a justice norm form? and (b) Why do variations among justice norms arise? Exchange theory clarifies the objective, structural, and largely "material" contexts in which justice norms originate. Symbolic interaction theory illuminates the subjective, intersubjective, and mainly "ideal" process through which justice norms emerge. Context variations in structural exchange (whether a setting entails distributive or productive exchange, equal or unequal power-dependence) help account for the formation of specific justice norms: equal opportunity, equality, Status-rank inequality, need, and equity. We link our theoretical account to existing data and suggest experimental tests of its key implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to develop a new concept of transverse interaction within an interactionist framework. Transverse interaction is the interaction of living things with the natural environment. This article contends that human-environment interaction is necessarily symbolic, a product of social interaction, and that new concepts are not necessary to capture that phenomenon. Natural meaning may be a contradiction in terms. Professor Weigert's paper on transverse interaction lies in the personal struggle so dramatically illustrated in his argument. His is the dilemma of a scholar who has emphasized the symbolic and constructed aspects of reality who must now come to terms with obdurate reality. He is to be commended for attempting the task. Weigert is a symbolic interactionist pleading for focus on the relationship between humans and their nonhuman environment. The view that humans have transcended the limits of biology through technology is naive and shortsighted. The extremelty limited time that humans have been using advanced technology has resulted in disturbing, perhaps catastrophic, change to every aspect of the natural environment. As human beings, we are still part of the natural environment and our interaction with that environment will our future or determine whether we have any future at all.