Interactionism, Symbolic

Dennis, AJ; Smith, GWH

Abstract

Symbolic interactionism (SI) is a distinctive sociological perspective that stresses the analytic centrality of investigating the meanings people give to their activities. Originating in US pragmatist philosophy and its uptake by staff and graduate students working at the University of Chicago, it developed a strongly empirical approach to social life that significantly influenced a number of substantive sociological fields, including crime and deviance, education, health and illness, organizations and work. The article elaborates SI's theoretical and methodological implications, examines its relationship to other approaches, assesses the main lines of criticism directed toward it, and describes recent developments in the field.

• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Dec 9, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Pages: 352-356
• Book Title: International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition,
• ISBN: 9780080970868