![]() ![]() ![]() Sociological theory is constantly evolving and should never be considered complete. Grand theories attempt to explain large-scale relationships and answer fundamental questions such as why societies form and why they change. Macro-level theories relate to large-scale issues and large groups of people, while micro-level theories look at very specific relationships between individuals or small groups. Theories vary in scope depending on the scale of the issues that they are meant to explain. Protestants were more likely to commit suicide than Catholics in Durkheim’s society, and his work supports the utility of theory in sociological research. Durkheim gathered a large amount of data about Europeans who had ended their lives, and he did indeed find differences based on religion. His studied social ties within a group, or social solidarity, and hypothesized that differences in suicide rates might be explained by religion-based differences. ![]() In sociology, a theory is a way to explain different aspects of social interactions and to create a testable proposition, called a hypothesis, about society (Allan 2006).įor example, although suicide is generally considered an individual phenomenon, Émile Durkheim was interested in studying the social factors that affect it. Sociologists study social events, interactions, and patterns, and they develop a theory in an attempt to explain why things work as they do. Goffman used theater as an analogy for social interaction and recognized that people’s interactions showed patterns of cultural “scripts.” Because it can be unclear what part a person may play in a given situation, he or she has to improvise his or her role as the situation unfolds (Goffman 1958).Studies that use the symbolic interactionist perspective are more likely to use qualitative research methods, such as in-depth interviews or participant observation, because they seek to understand the symbolic worlds in which research subjects live.Sociologists develop theories to explain social occurrences such as protest rallies. The focus on the importance of symbols in building a society led sociologists like Erving Goffman (1922–1982) to develop a technique called dramaturgical analysis. For example, while a conflict theorist studying a political protest might focus on class difference, a symbolic interactionist would be more interested in how individuals in the protesting group interact, as well as the signs and symbols protesters use to communicate their message. Their studies often involve observation of one-on-one interactions. Social scientists who apply symbolic-interactionist thinking look for patterns of interaction between individuals. Janitors are shown protesting in Santa Monica. If you love books, for example, a symbolic interactionist might propose that you learned that books are good or important in the interactions you had with family, friends, school, or church maybe your family had a special reading time each week, getting your library card was treated as a special event, or bedtime stories were associated with warmth and comfort. Mead’s student, Herbert Blumer, coined the term “symbolic interactionism” and outlined these basic premises: humans interact with things based on meanings ascribed to those things the ascribed meaning of things comes from our interactions with others and society the meanings of things are interpreted by a person when dealing with things in specific circumstances (Blumer 1969). George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) is considered a founder of symbolic interactionism though he never published his work on it (LaRossa and Reitzes 1993). Theorists Herman and Reynolds (1994) note that this perspective sees people as being active in shaping the social world rather than simply being acted upon. Communication-the exchange of meaning through language and symbols-is believed to be the way in which people make sense of their social worlds. Symbolic interactionism is a micro-level theory that focuses on the relationships among individuals within a society. Sociological Paradigm #3: Symbolic Interactionist Theory ![]()
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