Symbolic Interactionism

Abstract

The symbolic interactionist perspective is presented with a brief history and a discussion of the key theoretical and methodological assumptions to guide social research. After considering its origins and development into the contemporary period, we consider some of the criticisms leveled against it. We then turn to the issue of language and its importance for an interactionist model of the social nature of mind, self, and society. Here, critiques of George Herbert Mead's social learning model of language are considered, and the strengths of an interactionist approach are highlighted. The potential of interactionist studies of language are underscored, as well as related approaches such as dramaturgy and ethnomethodology, which can provide rich explorations of the connection of language to social experience.