Editing Symbolic interactionism (section)

==History==

=== George Herbert Mead ===

Symbolic interaction was conceived by [[George Herbert Mead]] and [[Charles Horton Cooley]]. Mead was born in South Hadley, Massachusetts in the year 1863. Mead was influenced by many theoretical and philisocial traditions, such as, utilitarianism, evolutionism, pragmatism, behaviorism, and the looking-glass-self. Mead was a [[social constructionist]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Housley |first=William |date=April 2008 |title=Book review: Larry T. Reynolds and Nancy J. Herman—Kinney, Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism. Walnut Tree, CA: Altamira Press, 2003, 1077 pp. ISBN 0 7591 0092 6. $110.00 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/14687941080080020606 |journal=Qualitative Research |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=266–267 |doi=10.1177/14687941080080020606 |issn=1468-7941|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Mead argued that people's selves are social products, but that these selves are also [[Purposive behaviorism|purposive]] and creative, and believed that the true test of any theory was that it was "useful in solving complex social problems".<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last1=Griffin|first1=Emory A.|title=A First Look at Communication Theory|last2=Ledbetter|first2=Andrew|last3=Sparks|first3=Glenn Grayson|publisher=McGraw-Hill Education|year=2015|isbn=9780073523927|edition=9th|location=New York|oclc=875554087}}</ref> Mead's influence was said to be so powerful that sociologists regard him as the one "true founder" of the symbolic interactionism tradition.
Although Mead taught in a philosophy department, he is best known by sociologists as the teacher who trained a generation of the best minds in their field. Strangely, he never set forth his wide-ranging ideas in a book or systematic treatise. Mead began his teachings at the University of Michigan then moved to the University of Chicago.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.vernonpress.com/book/568 |title=Symbolic Interactionism: The Basics [E-book, PDF] |date=2019 |publisher=Vernon Press |isbn=978-1-62273-517-4 |language=en |doi=10.54094/b-5691646dff}}</ref> After his death in 1931, his students pulled together class notes and conversations with their mentor and published ''[[Mind, Self and Society]]'' in his name.<ref name=":2" /> It is a common misconception that [[John Dewey]] was the leader of this sociological theory; according to ''The Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism,'' Mead was undoubtedly the individual who "transformed the inner structure of the theory, moving it to a higher level of theoretical complexity."<ref name=":3">Reynolds, Larry T., and Nancy J. Herman-Kinney. 1958(2003). ''Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism''. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press. {{ISBN|978-0759100923}}. [[OCLC]]&nbsp;[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/51059349 51059349].</ref>[[File:George Herbert Mead.jpg|alt=George Herbert Mead|thumb|George Herbert Mead]]
''Mind, Self and Society'' is the book published by Mead's students based on his lectures and teaching, and the title of the book highlights the core concept of social interactionism. ''Mind'' refers to an individual's ability to use symbols to create meanings for the world around the individual – individuals use language and thought to accomplish this goal. ''Self'' refers to an individual's ability to reflect on the way that the individual is perceived by others. Finally, ''society'', according to Mead, is where all of these interactions are taking place. A general description of Mead's compositions portray how outside [[social structure]]s, [[Social class|classes]], and [[Power (social and political)|power]] and abuse affect the advancement of self, personality for gatherings verifiably denied of the ability to characterize themselves.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Brewster|first=Kiyona|date=August 2013|title=Beyond classic symbolic interactionism: Towards a intersectional reading of George H. Mead's 'Mind, Self, and Society'|journal=[[American Sociological Association]]|series=Conference Papers|pages=1–20|via=SocINDEX with Full Text.}}</ref>

=== Herbert Blumer ===
[[Herbert Blumer]], a student and interpreter of Mead, coined the term and put forward an influential summary: people act a certain way towards things based on the meaning those things already have, and these meanings are derived from social interaction and modified through interpretation.<ref name="SSSI">{{cite web|url=http://symbolicinteraction.org/|title=Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction|last1=Williams|first1=Patrick|last2=vom Lehn|first2=Dirk|access-date=2021-10-01|archive-date=2023-05-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506214716/https://www.symbolicinteraction.org/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Blumer was a [[social constructionist]], and was influenced by [[John Dewey]]; as such, this theory is very [[Phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenologically]]-based. Given that Blumer was the first to use symbolic interaction as a term, he is known as the founder of symbolic interaction.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Aksan|first1=Nilgun|last2=Kısac|first2=Buket|last3=Aydın|first3=Mufit|last4=Demirbuken|first4=Sumeyra|date=2009-01-01|title=Symbolic interaction theory|journal=Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences|series=World Conference on Educational Sciences: New Trends and Issues in Educational Sciences|volume=1|issue=1|pages=902–904|doi=10.1016/j.sbspro.2009.01.160|doi-access=free}}</ref> He believed that the "Most human and humanizing activity that people engage in is talking to each other."<ref name=":2" /> According to Blumer, human groups are created by people and it is only actions between them that define a society.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Blumer|first=Herbert|title=Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method|publisher=[[Prentice-Hall]]|year=1969|isbn=978-0138799243|location=Englewood Cliffs, N.J.|oclc=18071}}</ref> He argued that with interaction and through interaction individuals are able to "produce common symbols by approving, arranging, and redefining them."<ref name=":4" /> Having said that, interaction is shaped by a mutual exchange of interpretation, the ground of socialization.<ref name=":0" />

===Other theorists===

While having less influential work in the discipline, [[Charles Cooley|Charles Horton Cooley]] and [[W. I. Thomas|William Isaac Thomas]] are considered to be influential representatives of the theory. Cooley's work on connecting society and the individuals influenced Mead's further workings. Cooley felt society and the individuals could only be understood in relationship to each other. Cooley's concept of the "[[looking-glass self]]," influenced Mead's theory of self and symbolic interactionism.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://socsci.colorado.edu/SOC/SI/si-cooley-bio.htm|title=Major Theorists of Symbolic Interactionism: Charles Horton Cooley|website=University of Colorado|access-date=January 18, 2005|archive-date=January 2, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050102111855/http://socsci.colorado.edu/SOC/SI/si-cooley-bio.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>  W. I. Thomas is also known as a representative of symbolic interactionism. His main work was a theory of human motivation addressing interactions between individuals and the "social sources of behaviors."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bjkTxML-wpEC&q=william+isaac+thomas+symbolic+interactionism&pg=PA3|title=Symbolic interactionism: genesis, varieties and criticism|last=Meltzer, B.N.; Petras, J.W.; and Reynolds, L.T.|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|year=1975|isbn=9780759100923|location=London}}</ref> He attempted to "explain the proper methodological approach to social life; develop a theory of human motivation; spell out a working conception of adult socialization; and provide the correct perspective on deviance and disorganization."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bjkTxML-wpEC&q=william+isaac+thomas+symbolic+interactionism&pg=PA3|title=Interactionism: exposition and critique|last=Reynolds|first=Larry T.|publisher=General Hall|year=1993|isbn=9780759100923|location=Dix Hills, NY}}</ref> A majority of scholars agree with Thomas.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bjkTxML-wpEC&q=william+isaac+thomas+symbolic+interactionism&pg=PA3|title=Handbook of symbolic interactionism|last=Reynolds, L.; Herman-Kinney, N.|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2003|isbn=9780759100923|location=Walnut Creek, CA|pages=65–67}}</ref>

Two other theorists who have influenced symbolic interaction theory are [[Yrjö Engeström]] and David Middleton. Engeström and Middleton explained the usefulness of symbolic interactionism in the communication field in a variety of work settings, including "courts of law, health care, computer software design, scientific laboratory, telephone sales, control, repair, and maintenance of advanced manufacturing systems".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Cognition and communication at work|last1=Middleton|first1=David|last2=Engeström|first2=Yrjö|date=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521645669|edition= Paperback|location=Cambridge|oclc=41578004}}</ref> Other scholars credited for their contribution to the theory are Thomas, Park, James, Horton Cooley, [[Florian Znaniecki|Znaniecki]], Baldwin, Redfield, and Wirth.<ref name=":4" /> Unlike other social sciences, symbolic interactionism emphasizes greatly on the ideas of action instead of culture, class and power. According to [[behaviorism]], [[Darwinism]], [[pragmatism]], as well as [[Max Weber]], [[Action theory (philosophy)|action theory]] contributed significantly to the formation of social interactionism as a theoretical perspective in [[communication studies]].<ref name=":0" />