Papers Gallery

Symbolic interactionism is a sociological framework that illustrates the divergent meanings people place on objects, interactions, and people, and the corresponding behaviors that reflect this range of interpretations. It is a culturally rooted, learned phenomenon, which is refined through the process of socialization.
George Herbert Mead was an influential figure in the field of symbolic interactionism and composed a threefold series of stages that rely on the utilization of gestures: the play stage, the game stage, and the generalized other stage.
The article that I have read touches on how language is an essential though limited vehicle in the transmission of symbols, and it defines symbolic interactionist concepts such as defining a situation, role salience, the looking-glass self, and the self-fulfilling prophecy.
Finally, research that depicts the complex nature of Symbolic Interactionism is presented, including the symbolic meanings of age, inequity, symbolic violence, and mental illness.