Symbolic Interactionism is communication through symbols or better known as human interactions (Griffin, 2009, p. 60). In this post i will use the film Crazy Stupid Love to explain Symbolic Interactionism and how does it affect our lives.
Charon (1998, p. 39) explains that “Symbolic interactionism
focuses on interaction in its understanding of the human being rather than on
personality, society, or the influence of others. Interaction includes social
interaction and interaction with oneself. It emphasizes that human beings
define their environment rather than simply respond to it, that a focus on
interaction and definition focuses our attention on the present situation as
the cause of what we do”. In other words it relies on human interaction. As stated by Griffin (2009, p. 60), Blumer's three core premises are meaning, language and thought whereby self appears when all three core principles are in place.
Blumer's first premise; meaning, symbols already contain pre-determined meanings and human beings understand these already implemented meanings, in the film we can see that Jacob Palmer is a stud, he sleeps with women from which he picks them up at the same bar, the term 'stud' was installed and labelled to him due to his cheesy pick up lines and charm which has never fail to bring the ladies back to his place. Blumer's second premise; language, when Cal Weaver first met Jacob Palmer, Cal was surprised to see how Jacob picks up the ladies with just mere words, Cal does not understand this 'language' by Jacob, he tried to copy Jacob at first but to no avail, so Jacob decides to teach him the ways on how he brings the ladies home and after a few attempts, Cal does so magnificently as he now understands the 'language' used by young Jacob.
As noted by Griffin (2009, p. 62), Blumer's final premise is "an individual's interpretation of symbols is modified by his or her own thought processes". This can also be called ones 'inner conversation' or minding. Minding is an inner dialogue or various imagination of alternative outcomes in our minds before we make a decision (Littlejohn, 1996, p. 163). Furthermore, as stated by Griffin (2009, p. 63), "the mental self-image that results from taking the role of the other; the objective self; me" is called the Looking-glass self. Whereby Cal mimics Jacob's role of a womanizer. In other words, as noted by Griffin (2003, p. 63), ‘I’ is “the spontaneous force that fosters all that is novel, unpredictable, and unorganized in the self” whereas ‘Me’ is “the objective self; the image of self-seen when one takes the role of the other". This leads to the concept of Self-fulfilling Prophecy" in which Cal being 'Me' a womanizer as taught by Jacob, is to be accepted by the younger society.
The Society 'help' us perceive how we display ourselves in public, the 'me' is developed through society's perception of oneself and 'Generalized other' develops. Griffin (2009, p. 65) states that 'generalized other' is "the composite mental image a person has of his or her self based on community expectations and responses. In conclusion, society plays a huge role in our development as a person, how we see and judged ourselves might be due to the people around us, it maybe socially and culturally constructed, hence understanding Symbolic Interactionism is relevant and useful for our daily lives.
References:
Blumer's first premise; meaning, symbols already contain pre-determined meanings and human beings understand these already implemented meanings, in the film we can see that Jacob Palmer is a stud, he sleeps with women from which he picks them up at the same bar, the term 'stud' was installed and labelled to him due to his cheesy pick up lines and charm which has never fail to bring the ladies back to his place. Blumer's second premise; language, when Cal Weaver first met Jacob Palmer, Cal was surprised to see how Jacob picks up the ladies with just mere words, Cal does not understand this 'language' by Jacob, he tried to copy Jacob at first but to no avail, so Jacob decides to teach him the ways on how he brings the ladies home and after a few attempts, Cal does so magnificently as he now understands the 'language' used by young Jacob.
As noted by Griffin (2009, p. 62), Blumer's final premise is "an individual's interpretation of symbols is modified by his or her own thought processes". This can also be called ones 'inner conversation' or minding. Minding is an inner dialogue or various imagination of alternative outcomes in our minds before we make a decision (Littlejohn, 1996, p. 163). Furthermore, as stated by Griffin (2009, p. 63), "the mental self-image that results from taking the role of the other; the objective self; me" is called the Looking-glass self. Whereby Cal mimics Jacob's role of a womanizer. In other words, as noted by Griffin (2003, p. 63), ‘I’ is “the spontaneous force that fosters all that is novel, unpredictable, and unorganized in the self” whereas ‘Me’ is “the objective self; the image of self-seen when one takes the role of the other". This leads to the concept of Self-fulfilling Prophecy" in which Cal being 'Me' a womanizer as taught by Jacob, is to be accepted by the younger society.
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| Jacob Palmer (right) teaches Cal Weaver how to be womanizer at a bar. |
References:
Charon, J. M. (1998). Symbolic Interactionism: An Introduction, An
Interpretation, An Integration (6nd ed.). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall
Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th ed).
New York: McGraw-Hill
Littlejohn, S. W. (1996). Theories of Human Communication (5th ed.)
California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
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