Power of Words For the past four years I have worked at my family’s company that has been in business now for 47 years. Once my grandfather hit retirement, he had passed on the ownership of the business to my father. I thoroughly enjoy working with my family, but like all jobs - the work has its pros and cons. Being that I am the owner’s daughter, my co-workers have the tendency to cast judgment upon me for receiving perks and benefits or so called “royal treatment”, that is not equally distributed upon all who are employed. For example, I am not reprimanded when arriving late to work, I receive raises in my pay check without asking for it, I don’t need to work full-time if I am not in want or need of more hours, and when it comes to vacation …show more content…
This theory was derived primarily by George Mead and assisted by Charles Cooley. Symbolic interactionism looks at the social structures amongst individuals and a group of people, rather than looking at the large-scale perspective. Symbolic interactionism unveils different meanings through objects, events, and behaviors. These meanings can differ from the interpretations people assign to certain situations, and interpretations alter from one group of people to another. Verbal conversations are words that serve as one of the primary symbols within this theory. The words have a certain meaning for the one conveying these feelings, and if the communication is successful in the process, then hopefully the meaning remains the same with the individual who receives the spoken words. Words require intentionality in order to receive the interpretation one is hoping for. Conversation is an interaction of symbols between individuals who constantly interpret the world around them. Of course, anything can serve as a symbol as long as it refers to something beyond the symbol itself. This symbolism relates to my deviant act because I verbally showed my appreciation to my co-workers by writing out sincere letters. These letters were not written with fleeting words, but were written with great intentions because I put a lot of thought behind …show more content…
In Cooley’s theory of the “looking glass self,” he argued that the way we think about ourselves is likely due to our imagination of how we appear to others. We imagine the judgment that others cast upon us. And in result, our actions reflect to these perceived judgements. When following through with this deviant act, I had led myself to believe that I appeared as a selfish and over-privileged daughter of the owner to my co-workers. My imagination, by nature, gave me the impression that the people I work with judged me. And in response to these perceived judgments, I did an act of deviance that I thought would resolve the way my co-workers viewed me. Another principle that Cooley contributed to sociology was that although our perceptions and assumptions that we make of a situation are not always true, what we believe is more important in determining our behavior of the situation than what is actually real. A sociologist, W. I. Thomas, expressed the same idea as Cooley and noted, “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.” This quote of Thomas’s holds true to my situation because I defined the situation that I was in. I made the assumption from the very beginning that almost every in the office held a sense of anger and jealousy against me. The way I defined that situation was very real to me, but in return I had consequences with
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
George Mead and Charles Cooley developed symbolic interaction and believed that symbols are in everyday life. Symbolic interaction is the human action and interaction are comprehensible through the exchange of communication or symbols. Humans are represented by acting and social interaction. Symbols are anything that can be specified, referred, or pointed to. For example, a friend, book, or language. Language gives people a way to negotiate meaning through symbols. People identify meaning in speech and acts with others. Symbolic interaction examines that people use symbols, and interpret the meanings of those actions and symbols for themselves and for
Deviant behavior is sociologically defined as, when someone departs from the “norms”. Most of the time when someone says deviance they think against the law or acting out in a negative behavior. To sociologists it can be both positive and negative. While most crimes are deviant, they are not always. Norms can be classified into two categories, mores and folkways. Mores are informal rules that are not written; when mores are broken, they can have serious punishments and sanctions. Folkways are informal rules that are just expected to be followed, but have no real repercussions.
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,
Deviance is any behavior that departs from societal or group norms. Deviance is not aimed at directly just once topic. It can range from criminal behavior, to sexual behavior, to religious behavior, and a lot more. Society is based around order and stability, without these two things conformity and predictability in human behavior would not exist. Because deviance can be so defined as so many different things, often people take offense to what they believe is wrong. The way I would define deviance is a mishap, in a person’s beliefs, and behavior that society does not agree with. The concepts 'Social Control ' and 'Deviance ' to my understandings of these terms are that they try to categorize, regulate and define different kinds of antisocial behavior. I believe that a lot of time, we as humans are afraid to break out of our shell and speak our mind because we are so afraid of what others may think. Society tells us that you have to act, be, and look a certain way, and if you do not fit these standards, then you are breaking conformity.
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
norms are those that are highly important to either most members in a society or
What is deviance? What does it mean? What determines a behavior as deviant? Deviance is anything that violates a social norm. For example, when a child burps at the supper table but doesn’t excuse himself. Who we socialize and spend time with will determine what we deem as deviant behavior. There are many types of deviant behaviors, some of these behaviors may not be considered deviant to one culture but to another they are.
The concepts 'Social Control' and 'Deviance' have more than one definition to me, my understandings of these terms are that they try to group, control and define different kinds of anti-social behaviour. In this essay I will be reflecting on how certain topics have deviant labels attached to them as a result of social control. I will be explaining my initial understanding and views of these topics, going on to explain how they may have been changed, challenged or reinforced after attending lectures and using the sources available to me to expand my knowledge. Also, I will be using evidence from texts I have read to support these views and considering how these contribute to the inner-relationship between 'deviance' and social control. The key topics I will be demonstrating this with are Teenage Mothers, Eugenics, Deviant Bodies and The Cultural Degeneration of Travellers. These topics highlight key areas in which deviant labels are attached to groups of people by social control and how society has tried to control people's views in order to separate class and be in command of what should be seen as acceptable behaviour.
Within any given society, individuals are expected to behave and or conduct themselves in a given acceptable manner. However, there are instances when particular individuals act contrary to the set standards and violate the cultural norms. Such acts may include acts of crime, theft, defiance, breaking of rules, and truancy just to mention a few. Deviance could thus be viewed as the intentional or accidental violation of the particular behavioral aspects and ways that people are expected to act within a society (Hardy).
Symbolic interactionism tends to observe things by paying full attention to the micro level of sociology. Instead of focusing on broader aspects you look at things depending upon the individual and their interactions in society. Through the use of symbols we are able to assign meaning to people and things and then develop our own interpretations of those symbols.
Deviance is defined as actions or behaviors that violate socials norms. In turn the concept of deviance is dependent on the social observation and perception. “By it’s very nature, the constructionism through which people define and interpret actions or appearances is always “social.” ”(Henry, 2009 , p. 6) One’s perception of a situation may be completely different from another depending on cultural and social factors. The way someone talks, walks, dresses, and holds themselves are all factors that attribute to how someone perceives another. In some cases what is socially or normally acceptable to one person is deviant in another’s eyes. For this reason there is a lot of gray area involving the topic of deviance because actions and behaviors are so diversely interpreted.
Symbolic Interactionist, is a concept that borders on the fringes of sociology, speech and communications, and even human psychology. The term was first coined by Herbert Bulmer who did not invent the concept. The concept was created by his professor at the University of Chicago and renowned social phycologist George Herbert Mead. The basic premise of this concept is that the very root of being human is being social creatures and our connection to each other. It is in this light that we judge our actions and choices as either successful and appropriate. Another important aspect of this theory that differentiates humans from animals is our ability and almost autonomous goal oriented behavior. Lions don’t think to themselves, if I produce more food for the pack then I will be King one day, animals don’t think long term, they react and think about survival. Whereas humans think if I don’t finish high school, people will think less of me and it will be harder to earn a living in the future, whereas others think the same about collage leading them to devote the actions and money to meet social standards that will allow them to live a life that meets a different
As we all have observed, throughout history each culture or society has unique norms that are acceptable to that group of people. Therefore, to establish and come to the acceptance of these basic norms, each society must develop its’ own strategies and techniques to encourage the fundamentals of behavior, which is clear in our modern society. Most do assume that everyone in a society will follow and respect such norms. However, some tend to deviate from the adequate norms and demonstrate deviant behavior. Nevertheless, we are inclined to ask ourselves, why do people decide to violate such important standards of living?
The second principle of symbolic interactionism is language, which is the source of meaning. Meaning is negotiated through the use of language. For example, there is nothing small and furry about the word puppy. However, through symbolic interactionism we have learned to associate the word puppy with the real life animal.