Interactionism
meaning and self as process
pp. 85-98
in: Seth Abrutyn (ed), Handbook of contemporary sociological theory, Berlin, Springer, 2016Abstract
Symbolic interactionism is a theoretical tradition that accounts for the emergence of meanings, selves and social life as the outcome of concrete interactions between actors. This chapter traces the rise of interactionism and outlines the different research traditions inspired by symbolic interactionism. It focuses on three traditions: (a) an account of the crystallization of particular social selves over time; (b) the study of recurrent patterns of situations, and; (c) the emergence and structure of collectives. The chapter then confronts some critiques of interactionism. It shows how interactionism confronted questions of micro-macro links and emotion. Turning to the question of culture and the importance of embodied habits, it then shows how new interactionist work moves from the situation to inter-situational analysis, and locates interaction between emergent meaning and widely available cultural affordances.