Symbolic Interactionism

today on the mr. sin channel we're going to be looking at symbolic interactionism what does it mean how does it view society and also how does that impact even my own concept of Who I am hmm now that is a deep question now if you've watched my other videos before you've heard this speech so I'll keep it short but take out your guided notes I've created the guided notes to go along with all of my videos you can find them in the description below the guided notes help you better understand all the concepts that we're going to talk about and at the end of the video then you have a nice study guide that's all completed so when you have your quizzes or tests or whatever you're preparing for you'll be ready so make sure to use the guided notes while watching this as we explore symbolic interactionism symbolic interactionism is really different than the other theories we've covered on this channel if you haven't seen those yet make sure to watch those videos I have them on constructionism structural functionalism and also conflict theory all of them will help provide different perspectives on how society functions and the reason why this theory is so different is this theory looks at people as the actors we're not necessarily getting acted upon but we are more participants in what is happening here this theories looking at society on the micro level meaning it's looking at the individuals these day-to-day interactions that we have this theory was originated by Herbert Blumer and he believed that society played out on a bunch of day-to-day interactions that people had these shared experiences through symbols like body language or actually just talking to each other or physical objects and that all of these symbols were subject to change and that each person would have a different version of what that symbol meant to them however though society did have some shared understanding of certain meanings behind symbols now this already probably sounds a little bit confusing really what it means is that we all as individuals have our own perspective on what is actual reality that there is no one set reality because it's subject to change and it's subject to be based off of all of the different in actions that we have every single day of our lives and the more experiences you have throughout your life the better understanding you get of what is the reality of society because all of society and all of our reality is based off our interactions with one another so it's an interesting theory to look at and we're going to break this theory down and look at a couple different examples of this just to start off of though one example would be an engagement ring Society has determined that an engagement ring is a sign of love and happiness and commitment by giving an engagement ring to someone you are telling them that you will spend the rest of your life with them and society has determined that the best thing for an engagement ring is diamonds now it's starting to shift even though sapphires and rubies now it depends culturally of where you are but that is a symbol that is showing commitment and love and that is what society has agreed upon and so it's an interesting concept other examples of these symbols that can change would be a tattoo maybe you want to get a tattoo or have a tattoo already the tattoo has a certain meaning to you some people love tattoos they think they're great other people think that you shouldn't do that that your body's a temple and everyone has a different opinion on them based on their experiences how they were raised culturally what have they seen and not seen even the tattoo that you may get might have a meaning at one point in your life but over time we'll be subject to change as you start to grow and learn more and also have other experiences maybe that tattoo becomes more significant or also maybe it becomes less significant and eventually you'll want to get it removed that's the interesting thing with this theory now let's look at a couple other examples of this theory in action so you really can understand what's happening here and then we'll also end the video by talking about how this theory looks at the concept of you and yourself and how does that connect to reality now before I get into another example of this theory we have to go over the three basic assumptions for it the first assumption is that human actions are going to depend on the meaning of the object whatever we're going to be doing in life is going to depend on the symbols that we are currently using or that we are observing or being a part of the assumption is that we will give meaning to things based on our social interactions now what that means - is that because everyone has different interactions and different perspectives they all will have their own meanings for certain objects and symbols even the two examples have already given tattoos and wedding rings or engagement rings you have your own opinions on that will be different from my opinions on it and different from your neighbors and your friends and your families everyone has their own perspective now we all know what the concept of an engagement ring is and the concept of tattoos are we have a shared understanding there but our life experiences have given us different versions of what those truly mean the last assumption that we'll talk about is that symbols are subject to change the meaning is not permanent and that's really important nothing ever will stay the exact same a perfect example of this would be the swastika it used to be a sign of peace however after Hitler used it and slightly modified parts of it even though it's not the exact same of the original swastika it became seen as a symbol of hate and anti-semitism and is now not culturally acceptable to ever use because it is seen as being racist and bigoted and ignorant and so that's how things have changed over time now another example of this theory in action would be fast food not to pick out McDonald's but we're gonna pick on McDonald's when you were a kid maybe you went to the play place at McDonald's it actually was a great marketing strategy McDonald's creates a fast-food restaurant and they add playgrounds to it parents can bring their kids there they can get a cheap meal the kids can go play they can get tired the kids associate McDonald's as fun hanging out with their brothers and sisters or friends good food I again up to you but anyways food nonetheless and it's also cheap so you're building this positive experience you view now a McDonald's as a positive thing the goal then behind that is as you get older then you'll bring your kids to McDonald's because you'll say I remember when I was in the playground and the slides I had so much fun I'll bring my kids there the goal then being that you continue to bring your kids and they'll bring their kids and their kids and now McDonald's has lifelong customers now over time though one of the things that we started to see with movies like supersize me coming out is McDonald's start to lead to more obesity not to pick on them because it wasn't just McDonald's fault but Americans started to see that well their health declined a little bit and their waist lines increased they started to associate the McDonald's with fatty food not healthy food and that it's not good to bring your kids there because they will then develop bad eating habits and so the concept of McDonald's started to change it was no longer a positive happy place it was now the place that possibly gave me diabetes or increased my waistline and made me obese and people start to going there in response then McDonald's has started recently doing a new campaign of healthy food options trying to change the narrative no longer being a fatty fast-food place but a fast-food place that serves healthy food as well and this shows symbolic interactionism all of these different concepts change over time and they will continue to change eventually McDonald's may be one of the healthiest restaurants ever we don't know but based on all of the experiences that we've had in life you have your own concept of McDonald's and that concept will change throughout your lifetime again as McDonald's is going to constantly try to make sure you come back so that's just one example of this theory in action now the last example I'm going to give is actually the concept of you and I'll have another video going into this theory a little bit more in depth but it looks at who we are as people now really what this means is we are defined by our interactions that we have with other people your concept of yourself is subject to change over time as we have more interactions with other people around us we better understand how people perceive us and when we understand how they perceive us then we start to internalize that there's a theory called the looking-glass theory and what it says is that our concept of ourself isn't just defined by who we think we are it's also defined by what we think other people think that we are our definition of who we are is more based off of our perception of other people's perception of us now that sounds weird but really our identity comes from all these different symbols and experiences that we've had in our lifetime that shapes who we are and who we will become so those things to think about when you're deciding what you're going to do in life is it truly your decision or is that some other influence from a different person that has impacted you and now is actually kind of deciding how you are going to take your next steps something to think about there hopefully this video helps you better understand this theory helped you understand exactly what the three assumptions were and how it can pertain to our everyday lives I'm mister sin don't forget to subscribe and support the channel and check out the other videos on some of the sociological theories until next time I'll see you online

Channel: Mr. Sinn

Views: 104,142

Rating: 4.9052525 out of 5

Keywords: symbolic interactionism, looking glass self, herbert blumer, what is symbolic interactionism?, sociology, sociology theories, theroretiecal perspectives, symbolic interactionism examples, symbolic interactionist theory, philosophy, Who are we?, How do we get our identity?

Id: L33RvPHetik

Length: 9min 31sec (571 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 25 2018