The Social Interactionist Perspective

Question 1

What does Durkheim believe sociology is about?

Answer 1

-believes that sociology is the study of social facts in society

Question 2

What does Weber believe sociology is about?

Answer 2

-sociology is the interpretation of the subjective meanings in individual social action

Question 3

What is social interaction?

Answer 3

-our actions, interactions, and relations to one another in the context of social relations

Question 4

What two main concepts was Charles Horton Cooley responsible for in sociology?

Answer 4

• the looking glass self

- the self is emergent

Question 5

What is the looking glass self?

Answer 5

-our sense of self is formed in the context
of our interactions with other people
-a reflection of ourselves is seen in other people, we use the feedback of others to form our sense of self (understanding of ourselves is based on what others think of us)

Question 6

What is the idea of the self being emergent?

Answer 6

• the self is a sense of identity that each individual possesses
• humans are born with the potential to have a self
• the self only emerges in the context of social interaction (from the standpoint of other group members or the generalized other)

Question 7

What are the three basic themes of social interactionism according to Cooley and Mead?

Answer 7

• the mind is emergent (all meanings emerge out of interactions or “conversations of gestures”)
• the self is emergent (the self emerges out of social interactions)
• society is emergent (society emerges out of interactions)

Question 8

What do we mean when we refer to drawing meaning from our interactions?

Answer 8

• we have our own contextual meanings for words eg: queer was first an insult, then was reclaimed
• babies associate a key word for food early on and associate it with being fed

Question 9

What did Mead have to say about the mind?

Answer 9

• the mind is not innate
• the mind is the precondition for the emergence of self
• language-> the mind-> role-taking-> the self

Question 10

What is the generalized other?

Answer 10

• existing perspectives and values in society in general (“what will people think)
• we know how to generally act to be highly valued in society and have an understanding of social roles eg: society values rich, successful people, so where do I fit?

Question 11

What happens to the self over time?

Answer 11

• it becomes more stable
• elementary selves (different parts of self that have not coalesced into a stable self yet) coalesced into a united self (a stable identity and cohesive sense of self)
  eg: good friend, good student, etc—–> a confident and compassionate woman

Question 12

What are the two phases of self?

Answer 12

-the I and the Me

Question 13

What is the I

Answer 13

• subjective, active, experiencing, spontaneous
• doing things actively at the moment
• is uncertain eg: in decision making, and only exists in the moment of responding

Question 14

What is the Me?

Answer 14

• objective, reflective, experiences, conformist
• reflecting on an experience afterward
• helps you in being a conformist, you can adjust behavior to conform in a way that helps you fit in in society and aligns with who you want t be

Question 15

What is taking the role of the other?

Answer 15

• essential skill children must develop to be effective members of society and to develop a sense of self
• not an innate capacity

Question 16

What are the stages of development of the self through role-playing according to Mead?

Answer 16

• imitative stage
• play stage
• game stage

Question 17

What is the imitation stage?

Answer 17

• inability to see themselves as separate from the other (can’t tell that they are separate from mother)
• under 2 years old
• can only imitate parents

Question 18

What is the play stage?

Answer 18

• adopt roles of significant others (eg: parents, storybook hero)
• imaginative play (can imagine themselves being a hero, chef, etc)

Question 19

What is the game stage?

Answer 19

• internalized and generalized other
• learn one’s own place
• can function in society and don’t need someone to tell you what to do, can understand general norms, can understand the rules of the game
• can imagine many roles at the same time and can imagine themselves in the roles of others

Question 20

What is the self?

Answer 20

Our role in society at different times, situations in relations to other people eg: daughter, teacher, student

Question 21

In which situation would the self be unable to emerge?

Answer 21

• situations of extreme neglect, lacking basic security, protection
• child growing up in extreme isolation, abandonment
  eg: Genie

Question 22

What is role strain?

Answer 22

• a situation where there is tension among the various roles attached to a status or even between the roles attached to different statuses
  eg: father-solider, Christian-gay. immigrant-Canadian

Question 23

What does it mean by society is emergent?

Answer 23

• human interactions result in society, outside of these interactions society doesn’t exist
• it is a process vs a final thing