Symbolic Interactionism is one of the major perspectives within the field of sociology and approaches its questions with the idea that society and the outcomes are simply constructed through the interactions of the individual and groups that compose their lives. In other words, we perceive something as such through past interactions and react accordingly to each situation going in with previous experience from a similar one. Each new experience we learn a new way to act and therefore adjust and become more integrated into that particular societal group. Thusly our behavior is influenced by our experience and how we translate those experiences.

This perspective began with the German sociologist Max Weber and American philosopher George Mead who put emphasis on subjective meaning where the individual places their own meaning within each event and interaction they experience with others or other objects within a culture and/or society therefore providing a different definition of society for each individual.

As we each progress through our lives we come upon millions thousands of opportunities to apply our interpretations and our views of the world around us. After a long enough period of time we can begin to develop a sense of patterns and similarities with past and present (perhaps future if one is expecting a certain event to take place, i.e. a picnic or trip to a museum).

As our own interpreter we may often feel that those around us will share these same conclusions to their interactions with us. Though this can often be the case within smaller, more intimate groups the likely hood of this remaining true as the situation/event grows larger and more complicated dwindles tremendously.

Much research in this field is done through face to face, observable reactions rather than big studies which give little room to do this. Though it can be argued that this method of study cannot provide consistent data or results due to the fact that the one conducting such a study is also using their own interpretation of what is happening. Though it is a goal to be objective as possible in any field of science, interpretation and observation of actions is a particularly more difficult area to truly be objective in.

Another more popular research method within the field of symbolic interactionism is participant observation, or the process of collecting data on a particular group, problem, or question by formulating a study plan and directly participating within that group to better understand the inner interactions, reactions, order, and/or end means of various aspects of situations that may or may not be unique to that group.An off branch of symbolic interactionism is something known as Dramaturgical Analysis which was originally introduced into the field of sociology by the social theorist Erving Goffman. This approach suggests the use of the analogy of human behavior with that of the theater. The script in this analogy is life, while the actors are the humans.

A key point to dramaturgical analysis is role-taking (the unique and individual roles each person takes within each aspect of their life). Examples of roles include: Mother, Father, Brother, Sister, Employee, Student, Friend, Husband, Wife, Confidante, etc.

Our “scripts” are largely in this case improvised according to Goffman and often we create our roles or modify them before acting them out.

There is also, in this approach, the existence of a back-stage and a front-stage. Back stage is the moments that the person is alone or preparing to take on a role such as preparing for work or if they live alone and arrive home. At this point they are beginning to prepare for the next day’s performances. Front stage being each point within that same individual’s life where they are taking on a role and acting out it’s scripted or pre-directed actions and behaviors with improvisations added to adapt such roles to the current play. A very important part to this approach is what is called Impression Management which is explained as a person’s effort or process of trying to present themselves to others in a way that is most favorable to their interests or image within a specific role or spanning multiple/all roles.

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