Symbolic Interactionism is a social theory that focuses on the analysis of the patterns of communication, interpretation and adjustment between individuals. The theory is a framework for understanding how individuals interact with each other and within society through the meanings of symbols. Both the verbal and nonverbal responses that a listener then delivers are similarly constructed in expectation of how the original speaker will react. The ongoing process of Symbolic Interaction is like the game of charades; only it is a full-fledged conversation.
Read more about Symbolic Interactionism: History, Basic Premises and Approach, Research and Methods, Five Central Ideas Behind Symbolic Interactionism, Central Interactionist Themes, New Media, Criticisms, Society For The Study of Symbolic Interaction
Famous quotes containing the word symbolic:
“Iconic clothing has been secularized.... A guardsman in a dress uniform is ostensibly an icon of aggression; his coat is red as the blood he hopes to shed. Seen on a coat-hanger, with no man inside it, the uniform loses all its blustering significance and, to the innocent eye seduced by decorative colour and tactile braid, it is as abstract in symbolic information as a parasol to an Eskimo. It becomes simply magnificent.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)