Full Description
Core text for the symbolic interaction course - often called "Self and Society" or "Individual and Society" - most often taught in sociology departments.
Symbolic Interaction in Society offers a systematic application of symbolic interaction to everyday life. In addition to providing an overview of the theory and methods of symbolic interaction, it includes theory and research related to all of the relevant topics in sociology today: race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, social institutions, and social change.
This book is written in a way that encourages students to employ symbolic interactionist concepts and principles throughout the text. Students are asked to put themselves into particular situations and consider how they would respond to the other people in that scenario. In doing so, students are able to see that human interaction is both stable and dynamic, that people can be predictable but that they also have agency, the ability to make number of decisions in a given situation. The goal is to show students the practical value of symbolic interaction for understanding their social lives today.
Key features include:
·Full review of symbolic interaction concepts and theories including a discussion of the nature of society and the role of the individual in society
·Research applications of symbolic interaction examining major sociological outcomes such as inequality (race, class, gender and sexuality), deviance and mental health, social relationships, family and other social institutions, and social change
·SI Online boxes include a review of how the principles of symbolic interaction apply to the effects of the Internet and modern communications on the individual and society
·Personal Notes boxes share real student applications in which students describe how they have employed symbolic interaction in their personal lives
·Original Work features one short excerpt from a book or journal article in every chapter
·Pedagogical devices such as chapter objectives, key terms, and end of chapter key terms and critical thinking questions guide students through each chapter
Contents
Preface
1 The Social Construction of Reality
This Book Isn't Real!
Basic Principles
Everything Is Not Relative!
A Situational Approach
The Construction of Society
The Individual in Society
Cognitive Sociology
Two Schools of Symbolic Interaction
Chapter Conclusion
2 Studying Symbolic Interaction
Quantitative versus Qualitative Methods
Verstehen Power
Exploration and Inspection
Studying Situations
Ethnography
Types of Ethnography
Narrative Analysis
Ethnomethodology and Natural Experiments
Unobtrusive Research
Going into the Field
Project Planning
Sampling
Ethical Issues
Chapter Conclusion
3 Constructing Culture
Elements of Culture
Statuses, Roles, and Norms
Values and Beliefs
American Culture
American Values and Beliefs
American Ideal-Type Personalities
Baudrillard's America
Creating Cultures
Subcultures and Idiocultures
Global Culture?
Cultural Change
Chapter Conclusion
4 Self and Society
The I, the Me, and the Self
Situational Selves
Self-Narratives and Possible Selves
Identity Theories
Identity Theory
Social Identity Theory
Dramaturgy
Front Stage/Backstage
Impressions Given/Impressions Given Off
Chapter Conclusion
5 Socialization
Cognitive Socialization
Symbols and Language
Stages of Socialization
Agents of Socialization
Family
Peers
Schools
Media and Self-Socialization
The Sociology of Childhood
Socialization over the Life Course
Our Role in History
Life Stages: Presocialization to Adult Socialization
Chapter Conclusion
6 Emotions, Relationships, and Society
Contextualizing Emotions
Dramaturgy and Emotions
Emotional Scripts
Emotional Socialization
Relationships, Community, and Society
Attraction: Starting a Relationship
The Socioemotional Economy
Community Relations
Chapter Conclusion
7 Deviance and Mental Health
Defining Normal
Levels of Deviance
Creating Deviance
Moral Entrepreneurs
Labeling and De-Labeling
Primary and Secondary Deviance
Deviant Subcultures
Deviance over the Life Course
The Myth of Mental Illness
Chapter Conclusion
8 Doing Inequality
Status Everywhere!
Doing Difference
Doing Gender
Intersectionality
Pride and Prejudice
Categorizing Self and Other
Borderwork
Chapter Conclusion
9 Institutional Life
The Nature of Social Institutions
Institutional Types
All in the Family
Work and Occupations: The Economy
Education
Religion and Politics
Institutional Intersections and Innovations
Chapter Conclusion
10 Collective Behavior
The Maddening Crowd
Mass Hysteria
Circular Reaction
New Social Movements
Emergent Norm Theory
Value-Added Theory
The Anatomy of Collective Thoughts and Behavior
Collective Memory, Identity, and Imagination
Collective Behaviors
Chapter Conclusion
References
Glossary
Index
