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Applications of symbolic interactionist theory
Critical review of conflict theory
Differences between functionalism and symbolic interactionism
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Recommended: Applications of symbolic interactionist theory
1 Most sociologists interpret social life from one of three major theoretical frameworks or theories: symbolic interactionism, functional analysis, or conflict theory. Describe the major points and key concepts of each framework. List at least one sociologist who is identified with each of these three frameworks. In symbolic interaction we communicate with other people through roles that we assign to them, the way we label them, or how we act in accordance to what this person symbolizes to us. Often we assign labels, or roles to other people by knowing them from before. It is focused on individual interactions with other people, things or the events. One thing can symbolize one thing to me, but it can mean something else to another individual. Since we view the same thing differently, we will interact towards that thing or individual in different ways. An example of this is, rainy day for my kids means fun in the water, walking through mud, and just enjoying the day. To me the same rainy day means, lots of dirty clothes, mud all over the floor. It is important to remember that someone’s symbolic interaction can change. It is fully focused on micro sociology, only focusing on interactions between individuals. It states that we interact and change according to our prior experiences and interactions. Two sociologists that are identified with this theory are Max Weber and George Mead. Action depends …show more content…
In which way agents affects us will reflect on micro and micro level. Meaning, how we are affected and shaped by those agents will reflect on our life our family on micro level, but also on society as whole on macro level. Four of the most important and common agents are: family, peers, school and mass media. Besides those 4 major agents, we also recognize religion government or even economy as agents of socialization. We will focus on 4 major
Sociology is the study of society and the interactions that occur within society itself. There are numerous methods of analyzing societies and the way the function, nonetheless, most methods fall in micro and macro level theories. Micro level theories allow sociologist to study smaller relationships such as individual or compact groups of people. On the other hand, macro level studies permit for larger scale investigations to take place. With both of these theories there are three theoretical perspectives used in sociology. Micro level theories include symbolic interactionism which focuses in interactions done with language and gestures and the means which allow such interactions to take place. Macro level theories include structural functionalism
High school or more generally education plays a vital role in society here in the United States. It provides a necessary transition from childhood to adulthood through education and conditioning. Others would argue it serves as a competing group for resources or a center for learning and practicing the implied meanings in society.
We understand and perform on social objects. Our most important form of social objects are people. Symbolic interactionism is also called symbolic interaction perspective, the major framework of sociological theory as we know it today. People rely upon interaction with others; socializing has become the key factor of our everyday lives. Symbolic Interactionism is the meanings that we impose on objects, people, and sometimes even behaviors. Our society is a huge structure built by human interpretations.
One of the sociological theories is conflict theory. The conflict theory deals with people's level on wealth, or class. The conflict theory says that social change is beneficial, contrary to focuses on social order. In the story of the woman and her children, the conflict theory plays a big role on the situation. Police of higher class are threatening the homeless woman. The conflict theory is a constant struggle of people of higher class over powering people of lower class, or the weaker. The police are trying to over power the woman by telling her to leave. Even though the woman and her children were doing nothing wrong, the police used their power to tell her to leave. Also the people of the area showed their conflict theory by telling the police officers to come. They must have felt embarrassed to have a woman of such lower class to be around them. They used their power of class to have the woman removed from their community. The woman wants to be there because she has no home and it is a good community to be in, but the people look at it as an embarrassment to them because it makes their area look bad for someone of such lower class to be around them. The conflict theory is unique to all other theories because it separates people into categories determined by their wealth and standards. Their status is the element that categorizes them, weather it is class, race, or gender. The conflict theory do not always use class, race, and gender all at once. In this situation race and gender is not a main issue, although gender could be a reason, but it would fall under the feminist theory. This story is mainly dealing with class. Through all this conflict the woman feels over powered and domina...
Symbolic interactionism is the study of how people negotiate the meaning of social life during their interactions with other people. I thought all black guys had the same speech. I used to think they were loud,
Symbolic interactionism perspective is defined as “the study of how people negotiate the meanings of social life during their interactions with others” (Rohall, Milkie, and Lucas, 2014, p.27). It asserts that “we construct meaning about things that are important in our own lives and in our society” (Rohall, Milkie, and Lucas, 2014, p.28). These meanings derive from social interactions among individuals which
Social theories provide us with a new perspective in the social world. With new perspectives, new opinions can be made. also, they can provide answers or explain a specific social spectacle. Social theories can help clarify and predict the way the social world works. The three major sociological perspectives are functionalism, the conflict theory, and the symbolic interaction theory. Each theory is different and can help answer many questions about human behavior in a social world.
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective emphasizes that human behavior is influenced by meanings created via symbolic interaction with others. Thomas (1966) asserted that human would more focus on the definition of a situation rather than the objective of situation. So, he inferred that what we define as real will become real as a result. However, it also believes that self-identity and sense are shaped by social interaction self-concept is developed by how others interact with us and label us.
Developed in the late 19th century, symbolic interactionism dealt with people and how they hold the relationship with one another. George Herbert Mead even though never published his work, is said to be the founder of symbolic interaction (Introduction to sociology 2015). This theory deals with the relationships we have with one another. If an individual is trying to use symbolic interaction in a scientific manner, they would observe the patterns someone faces. Certain patterns all come back to a certain event any individual has had in the past. Events in the past could be, positive or negative. A positive effect could be, someone reading daily because his or her parents used to read to them before they slept (Introduction to Sociology 2015). A negative effect would be someone eating constantly for a coping mechanism. How an individual reacts to a situation gives personality. Symbolic Interactionism also can be a symbol, such as gun to cop or paintbrush to painter. Symbolic Interaction is more of a personal theory dealing with more of a small scaled group rather than large groups of people. Understanding how humans
Evaluation of Sociological Theories Deviance can be described as: "Nonconformity with existing/traditional social norms. This nonconformity is often said to be pathological when it challenges power and privilege; yet it is said to be indicative of innovation or creativity when the gatekeepers of morality approve it. A loaded term, deviancy is a negative asset when the environment is stable but can be a positive asset to a society when the environment is irreversibly changing." Each perspective asks different questions and focuses on different issues regarding crime and deviance.
There are three main types of sociological perspectives in which you can perceive different sociological issues and concepts; structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, and social conflict. Structural-functional looks at society as a whole and how it works together. Symbolic-interaction is how different symbols spark particular thoughts and emotions by examining the meanings that people impose on objects, events and behaviors. Social conflict studies how power and coercion affect social order. Based off these types of perspectives, an analysis on teen depression and suicide can be evaluated from a sociological standpoint.
Economic trends, such as inflation or recession, and political decisions, such as giving national resources to defense or reducing health care spending, affect my family and me. The sociological perspective holds that a person can best understand their personal experiences and problems by examining their broader social context, by looking at the big picture. The social world overwhelms each of us from the moment of our birth until the day we die. Throughout our lives, each of us is part of a set of social relationships that provide guidelines for how we interact with others and how we see ourselves. This does not mean that human behavior is strictly determined by our links to the social world; humans are more than mere puppets whose behavior is programmed by social structure. It does mean, however, that influence between the individual and the larger social world is reciprocal. We are influenced by and we have influence on our social environment. The social world is a human creation, and we can and do change that which we create. It acts upon us, and we act upon it. In this sense, social units are not static but are constantly emerging and changing in the course of human interaction. The difficulty for most of us is that we are so caught up in our daily concerns that we fail to see and understand the social forces that are at work in our personal environments. The concepts, theories, methods, and levels of analysis
Sociologists employ three major theoretical perspectives in sociology today. They are the structural-functionalist perspective, the conflict perspective, and the symbolic interactionism. The structural-functionalist perspective is done at a macro level and its focus is on the relationships between the parts of society. The Conflict perspective is done at a macro level and its main focus is on how the wealthy controls the poor and weak. Symbolic Interactionism is done at a micro and it focuses on the use of symbols and face to face interactions.
3. Socialization is what we call a way of understanding society; it is to study human behavior. But the difference is that socialization is a major factor it forms ways for us to become human with interacting with society, for example “the process by which we become aware of ourselves as a part of a group “ in other words socialization is based on how to come together developing ways to fit in with one another.
Symbolic interaction is the individual interactions between people and how that influences their behavior. Those individual interactions between people is what influence society. Social institutions are what influences, creates, and sustains relationships. Symbolic interaction theorist attach meaning to symbols, body language, words, gestures, images, and how we interplay with each other of those meanings. Symbolic interaction also considers the labeling theory. Symbolic is micro-sociology with individual interactions. In contrast, structural functionalism is macro-sociology dealing with the people who compose a community. A social institution is an ordered system of interrelated parts in a society. Structural functionalism all work in sync to make a society function. There are hidden and intended functions. Dysfunction is what