Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic interactionism focuses on the interaction, which takes place in social activities between people (Charon, 1989), in which the approach focuses on how human beings are constantly undergoing changes through interactions between one another, and how the society is also constantly changing through the interaction of human beings with each other. For example, a child develops it sense of self through interacting with their ‘significant other’ which could be their his/her parents.

Human behavior is unpredictable, as one’s behavior is driven by the meanings that they give to situations; through the way a person define situations and the way they see things. Blumer specified that, the main principles of symbolic interactionism are meaning, language and thought (Griffin, 2009).

Meaning

Meaning illustrates how a person sees something or someone base on his own interpretation of how he/she sees that someone or something (Littlejohn, Human beings have the flexibility and freedom, to interpret things they want, as there is no real interpretation; what a person think is real depends on every individual interpretation of things.

Language

Language happens through interaction between one another where meanings arises out of the social interaction that people have with each other (Griffin, 2009). Meanings are made out and negotiated through the usage of language, which in turn makes out the term symbolic interactionism.

Thought

His own thought processes modify an interpretation of symbols, and when a person think (Griffin, 2009), it means that it is when a person takes in a symbol, and direct those symbols toward the self, as Mead would say “ activity, and the different phases of consciousness are parts of his activity” (Charon, 1989).

Mead explains that the self is divided into two components, where the ‘I’ is seen as the ‘unsocialised’ and spontaneous half of the self, where humans had a capacity of originality and the ‘Me’ is the socialized self, where the person is internalized to the norms and values of society.

Media Text as an example

For example, by using Angelina Jolie on the cover of Vanity Fair, having a sharp jaw line, big cat eyes, full lips, perfect eyebrows, and slim looking figure is the ideal way of to look like in today’s world. Due to the perfect portrayal of these celebrities, if a person is seen as someone who does not fulfill, these ideal features, naming and labeling (Griffin, 2009) occurs where demeaning names such as fatso, ugly duckling and slob arises and the person starts to warp themselves into those labels and start viewing and conforming themselves into those names that was said to them by others, which may lead to something positive or negative such as:-

However, symbolic interactionism lacked clarity as it was very hard to revise and summarise as whole, and it also suffers an overstatement (Griffin, 2009) because it does not mean that human’s are robots that conform to the system that produces by society, through the example given, it is shown that humans by nature are not passive but however they are active.

Reference:

Angelina Jolie on Vanity Fair Cover [image] (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2012 from http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_muRy3pbuarc/TRjuUdC4VtI/AAAAAAAAFGo/Sn-jM162IGA/s1600/Angelina+Jolie+by+Patrick+Demarchelier+%2528Vanity+Fair+Spain+January+2011%2529.jpg

Charon, J., M. (1989). Symbolic Interactionism an introduction, an interpretation, an integration (3^rd ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall, inc.

Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory(7^th ed.). Glencoe, IL: McGrawHill.

Jogging at the Beach [image] (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2012 from http://www.10ktraining-plan.com/2011/12/03/beneficial-jogging-tips-for-beginners/

Littlejohn, S., W. (1977) Sybolic interactionism as an approach to the study of human communication. Book reviews. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.ubd.edu.bn/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1e69f5b9-f9d2-40c4-97d1-db7e606aac9d%40sessionmgr10&vid=5&hid=15