Interactionist theory is a sociological perspective that focuses on understanding society by examining the everyday interactions between individuals. The basic elements of interactionist theory are:
The Importance of Symbols
Interactionists view humans as using symbolic communication, both verbal and non-verbal, to interact with each other and construct identities and shared meanings. Symbols can include language, gestures, clothing, hairstyles, or other representations that are imbued with meaning within a society. Interactionists examine how people interpret and respond to various symbols to make sense of social situations.
Focus on the Individual
While other sociological perspectives may focus on larger social forces, interactionist theory is chiefly interested in how face-to-face exchanges influence people’s perceptions, understandings, and actions. Individuals are seen as actively shaping social interactions rather than simply being passive products of society.
Human Interaction in Everyday Life
Interactionists want to understand human behavior in natural, real-world settings. Therefore, they favor qualitative methods such as observational studies, unstructured interviews, and ethnographies of small groups and communities in order to understand social action from an insider’s perspective.
Meanings and Definitions of Situations
Interactionists examine how individuals interpret situations and events based on their own set of meanings and definitions that they have developed through interaction with others. People actively construct their own understandings and perspectives through this process.
Looking at Roles and Identity
Our social roles, group affiliations, and identities as individuals are not fixed or innate but are dynamically created and recreated through ongoing interaction. Interactionists want to understand how identities are developed and how roles influence behavior.
Importance of the Social Construction of Reality
Interactionists propose that there is no objective reality. Rather, we define our realities and develop shared meanings through social interaction. Our social constructions of reality then shape our attitudes and behaviors.
Key Figures in Interactionist Theory
Some pioneering thinkers behind interactionist theory include:
- George Herbert Mead – Mead argued that the self emerges through the process of social interaction, such as a child taking on roles in pretend play.
- Herbert Blumer – Blumer coined the term “symbolic interactionism” and shaped the theoretical perspective based on three premises: that individuals act toward things based on the meanings they assign to those things; that meaning comes from social interaction between individuals; and that meanings are developed and modified through an interpretive process.
- Erving Goffman – Goffman used a dramaturgical approach and drew from his field research of natural interactions to discuss concepts like impression management.
- Howard Becker – Becker studied deviance and labels and made key contributions to labeling theory.
Core Principles and Concepts
Some of the fundamental principles and concepts of interactionist theory include:
Self-Concept
Our sense of self emerges through taking on roles and seeing ourselves from others’ perspectives. Interaction shapes how we view and define ourselves.
Role Taking
Individuals imagine different vantage points to try to understand others’ perceptions and meanings. This aids in navigating social interaction.
Role Playing
By acting out various roles in social settings, we begin to develop understandings of society’s expectations for those roles.
Definition of the Situation
We define ambiguous situations based on our prior experiences and understanding of relevant symbols, rules, and norms.
Looking-Glass Self
Our sense of self is shaped by how we believe others see us. We imagine others’ judgments of ourselves and incorporate their perspective.
Dramaturgy
Goffman used theater as a metaphor to explain social interaction. People are actors who manage impressions, wear various masks, perform roles, and engage with different audiences.
Ethnomethodology
Ethnomethodology studies how people make sense of everyday situations and interactions based on tacit, socially constructed knowledge and assumptions.
Methods
Interactionists favor qualitative, observational methods that allow them to study symbolic communication and make sense of human interaction from the point of view of participants. Common methods include:
- Participant observation – researchers become immersed in a group setting, openly observing and often participating in activities to understand the meaning behind behaviors, rituals, interactions, and events.
- Ethnography – provides an in-depth account and interpretation of a culture or social group’s values, practices, beliefs, rituals, and norms based on extensive field research.
- Unstructured interviews – open-ended questions aimed at understanding individuals’ perspectives, meanings, experiences, and definitions of reality based on a topic.
- Micro-analysis of conversations and documents – close examination of language use, rhetorical strategies, and symbolic representations.
Application
Interactionist theory has been applied to explain many different sociological topics and phenomena. For example:
- Communication – how people construct shared understandings and societal notions of truth/reality through linguistic exchanges and nonverbal gestures in coordinated actions.
- Education – how teachers and students negotiate classroom interactions and relationships, or how students develop identities based on labels.
- Family – how family members’ roles and relationships are actively developed and renegotiated through ongoing exchanges of meaning.
- Deviance – how rule-breaking behavior is socially constructed through labels that separate “outsiders” from “normal” groups.
- Socialization – how individuals learn societal norms, values, and expected behaviors through childhood play and interacting with various groups.
- Social media – how users craft online personas, make sense of shared content, and form networks through symbolic communication on platforms.
Criticisms
Some key criticisms of interactionist theory include:
- Too narrow focus on micro-level interactions without adequate attention to larger structural forces that shape society.
- Difficulty in finding macro-level patterns or making broad generalizations given the intensive qualitative methods.
- Lack of predictive power compared to other sociological theories aimed at testing hypotheses.
- Problematic subjectivity and issues of reliability given the researcher’s close involvement interpreting interactions.
- Potental biases from observational methods where researcher presence alters natural behavior of groups.
Conclusion
Interactionist perspective focuses on the symbolic dimensions of human interaction in everyday life. Key elements include: analyzing face-to-face exchanges and communications, understanding individuals’ interpretations and meanings, examining how identities and roles are actively constructed, and recognizing the processes through which people jointly create their social realities. Despite limitations like less broad explanatory power, interactionist approaches offer useful qualitative insights into micro-sociology and social psychology by spotlighting how individuals’ perceptions, attachments to symbols, and definitions of the situation guide behavior and group dynamics.