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SOCGRAD MINI-LECTURES
The mini-lecture for this week concerns Symbolic Interactional Theory [SIT]. SIT is the deep, rich core of all forms of authentically social reality...it is very important to the sociologist to know when and to what degree interaction is rich enough and equitable enough to affirm the basic ideas of SIT. I'll discuss ten basic ideas and you can decide whether and to what degree they are valid in the runs of behavior you see/live/observe in everyday life.
A. Human beings use symbols to construct all forms of social reality; friendships, marriage forms, churches, teams, and whole societies are equally the product of symbolic interaction.
Ask yourself if there are any social structures which pre-date and pre-shape human behavior...don't forget to consider both built-in genetic imperatives nor macro-societal organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations or Gaia herself.
Many say that genes pre-structure agression, sexuality and gender, dominance, territoriality and conflict. If that is the case, symbols are used to embody rather than construct social realities.
B. There are five sets of symbols which each human being uses to contribute to the construction of situated social occasions:
1. Voiced sounds; the English language has some 300k words which can be used to construct an infinity of social realities.
2. Body talk: hands, face, legs, posture and muscle tone can be used to convey
3. Body costume; clothes, cosmetics, tattoos, scars, and other body decorations can signal social occasions, social status and intent.
4. Behavioral runs...both short and long runs of behavior can be read for their social meaning. Psychiatrist become adept at reading such runs for their repeated [and neurotic meanings]. Most people focus upon the situational meaning and overlook the larger runs.
5. Material items; tools, toys, furnishings, architecture and whole city layouts as well as transnational routes can be read by the adept social reader.
Think about the politics of symbol useage: who can speak; who is limited to what languages, codes, words and clothings. Think about access to mass media and who controls the symbolic process there. Think about the law making process which installs specialized social control apparatuses to pre-shape and to penalize symbolic interaction. Think about the first amendment to the Constitution of the USA and its meaning for the use of all five sets of symbols.
C. Each Symbol arouses the same feelings, thoughts, and actions in the speaker as it does in the listener. Think about the truth value of this most basic assumption when you go on a date; when you listen to an ad; when you hear Bill Clinton or Rush Limbaugh speak or when you read your local newspaper.
Think about the tens of thousands of people in advertizing and public relations who are hired to shape the symbolic interactional process in mass media and public discourse on terms favorable to their clients. Think about the truth value of each of the major assumptions of S.I.T. How variable are they? Under what conditions are they true? How can we help improve the validity of the assumptions and the social process of reality constitution which they make possible?? What would we have to do in school, church, politics and economy to create a world in which the observations of Mead, Cooley, Blumer and Znaniecki could be valid?
Part II to follow.